Keir Starmer has returned to the Commons from international summits to a burgeoning backbench rebellion threatening to kill his welfare reforms. He has now made concessions to the rebels, Sky News understands.
Thursday 26 June 2025 22:42, UK
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One of the Labour rebels, Ian Byrne MP, is not impressed with the concessions the government's expected to make on its welfare reforms.
Sky News understands they include changes to personal independence payments and the universal credit health top-up.
The restrictions being proposed to make it harder to get them will now only apply to new claimants, and not those who already get the benefits.
Byrne writes on social media: "How can someone diagnosed with a condition in a few months be less disabled than someone diagnosed with it already and not be eligible for help?
"This bill will still drive hundreds of thousands of disabled people into poverty. I will be voting against this shameful piece of legislation and I urge colleagues to do the same."
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride hasn't missed the opportunity to stick the boot into the government tonight.
The Tory says Keir Starmer has performed another "screeching U-turn", just weeks after he changed course on winter fuel cuts.
He describes the concessions expected to be made on welfare as a "completely unfunded spending commitment".
"Labour's welfare chaos will cost hardworking taxpayers," he adds.
The prime minister's entire focus for the past 12 days has been on international diplomacy.
He's gone from the G7 in Canada, trying to deal with Trump, trade deals, de-escalation; then Israel-Iran, he was at Chequers trying to deal with that crisis; and then he was straight to NATO.
You could forgive him for being pretty angry that those who should have been managing the shop back home have ended up in such an enormous blow-up with MPs.
A PM needs to be able to trust his team when he's dealing with international crisis.
As I understand it, a month ago up to 140 MPs signed a private letter to the whips warning they would not accept the welfare reforms.
The whips told No 10 - and No 10 it seems stuck their fingers in their ears and didn't pay attention to it.
But this is really draining on the PM's authority. Ultimately, he carries the can.
Less than a year ago in Downing Street, the bunting was out, and Keir Starmer was walking into No 10 to a chorus of cheers after winning a landslide victory.
Now there's such a rebellion from his own MPs, he's being forced to climb down on his welfare reforms.
For a prime minister to face such a challenge so early in his premiership, with such a big majority, is simply unprecedented.
It is a humiliating blow to his authority from a parliamentary party that has felt ignored by Downing Street.
It's a hot mess, and it was avoidable. It has left very bad blood between the parliamentary party and No 10 and No 11. There's a lot of ire directed at Rachel Reeves at the moment too.
For a PM to be facing such an overt challenge to his authority with a working majority of 165, less than a year into his leadership, having to U-turn because he's facing defeat?
I've never seen anything like it.
Not everyone is going to be won over by the government's apparent welfare climbdown.
Labour left-winger Richard Burgon MP says "these changes may make a very bad bill less awful, but the vast majority of cuts remain and it still forces hundreds of thousands into poverty".
"Nowhere near good enough," he adds in a social media post.
"I'll vote against the bill. The government shouldn't be balancing the books on the backs of disabled people."
And fellow Labour rebel Nadia Whittome MP says the concessions "aren't enough" and "should worry us all".
"If you become disabled tomorrow, you risk not having the support you need," she writes on X.
A senior Labour backbencher who had signed the amendment to kill the government's welfare reforms is back on board.
"I think the concessions will be positively received, and I expect to vote with the government now," they've told Sky News.
Sky News understands the government has made significant concessions on personal independence payments (PIP) and universal credit to quell a Labour rebellion against its welfare reforms.
But what were they planning that caused such consternation?
PIP
The biggest shakeup to the system involved changes to PIP - money given to people including some of whom are in work - who have extra care needs or mobility needs as a result of a disability.
People who claim it are awarded points depending on their ability to do certain activities, such as washing and preparing food, and this influences how much they will receive.
From November 2026, people would need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of PIP - instead of fewer points spread across a range of tasks.
This would have impacted existing claimants as well as new ones. The government's concessions are understood to see this change dropped for existing claimants.
Universal credit
The government intended to freeze the health element of universal credit, claimed by more than two million people, at 拢97 a week during this parliament, and cut the rate to 拢50 for new claimants.
Again, it's understood the government's concessions mean this change now won't apply to existing claimants.
The government has made an offer to rebel Labour MPs over its controversial welfare reforms, Sky News understands.
One senior source told our political editor Beth Rigby they think it is a good package with generous concessions, and some rebels are minded to accept it.
Changes are understood to include dropping the changes to personal independence payments (PIP) and the health top-up to universal credit for existing claimants.
It is up to individual MPs as to whether they withdraw their names from the amendment that had threatened to kill the government's proposals.
Three years ago today, Zara Aleena was sexually assaulted and murdered as she was walking home in east London.
The perpetrator was a man who had been released from prison on licence just nine days previously, and who should have been recalled to prison for committing other offences.
The final guest on tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge is Zara's aunt, Farah Naz, who is due to meet soon with Sir Keir Starmer.
Asked what she wants to say to him, she replies: "I do think [leaders] need to listen to people like us.
"We keep them on their toes, and I think they just need to look at us sometimes because they need to see the pain in order to stay motivated.
"And I'm not saying that Keir Starmer wouldn't be motivated - I see that he is. But I think one can forget that there are people behind statistics, and one can get the urgency that is needed to change violence towards women and girls."
Probation service 'was dismantled'
Naz has particular concerns about the probation services, and that sex offenders are being released earlier in their sentences due to overcrowding in prisons.
She tells Sophy she has had "many meetings" with the probation service, and they have apologised and acknowledged their mistakes.
"They have addressed all the holes that led to [Zara's killer] being on the street, and they've done a little more than that as well. And they're consistently doing more than that," she says.
"But this is a service that was dismantled, as we all know, over the last 20 years. And it isn't going to be fixed that quickly.
"I don't trust that those holes will stay closed because actually, when a service is consistently stressed, if things are happening in prisons, if there are more prisoners that probation officers need to see, then the service will be stressed.
"And the more services stress, the more the holes will appear again, and holes tend to appear in the same places."
Government sending 'mixed message'
She calls for more to be done to improve the service, and the others that it works with.
Naz says Labour's pledge to halve violence against women and girls is "wonderful" and "bold" - but budget cuts sends a "mixed message" which is "deeply distressing".
