Chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted that rebelling Labour MPs “know the welfare system needs reform” as the government faces a growing backlash over planned cuts.
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure from Labour MPs, with about 40 in the Red Wall – the party’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – warning the prime minister’s welfare plan is “impossible to support” in its current form.
Dozens have thrown their support behind a letter urging the government to “delay” the proposals, which they blasted as “the biggest attack on the welfare state” since Tory austerity.
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Ms Reeves on Friday reiterated her plans for reform, insisting that no-one, including Labour MPs and party members, “thinks that the current welfare system created by the Conservative Party is working today”.
She said: “They know that the system needs reform. We do need to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to grow our economy.”
But, the chancellor added, if the government is going to lift people out of poverty “the focus has got to be on supporting people into work”.
“Of course if you can’t work, the welfare state must always be there for you, and with this government it will be,” she said.
The reforms, announced ahead of Ms Reeves’s spring statement in March, include cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP), one of the main types of disability benefit, and a hike in the universal credit standard allowance.
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The government has claimed that changes to welfare will cut the budget by £4.8bn overall.
Separately, Downing Street refused on Friday to deny that Ms Reeves has consulted on potentially overhauling their winter fuel payment policy.
Labour’s unpopular decision to means-test the policy has taken the benefit away from millions of pensioners.
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Ministers have faced pressure from their own backbenchers to rethink the policy in the wake of last week’s local election results, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.
Asked if the chancellor has discussed the winter fuel payment in private, the prime minister’s spokesperson said they would not give a running commentary.
Pushed again, Number 10 said a “range” of discussions take place in government – which is not a denial.
However, it is worth noting that when reports emerged earlier this week that Downing Street was reviewing the policy, the government strongly pushed back on that suggestion.
