BBC News, political correspondent
PA MediaA growing number of Labour MPs are supporting a bid to block the government’s planned welfare changes, despite ministers phoning backbenchers to persuade them to back down.
More than 130 MPs, including 120 Labour MPs, have signed an amendment that would give them the opportunity to vote on a proposal to reject plans to cut disability and sickness-related benefits payments to save £5bn a year by 2030.
Cabinet ministers are reported to be among those ringing round Labour MPs, calling on them to remove their names from the amendment. Only one Labour MP Samantha Niblett has removed her name from the list so far.
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “press ahead” with the welfare changes.
Those who signed the amendment opposing the government’s welfare reforms include MPs from the 2024 intake, as well as those who were elected MPs before Labour’s landslide election victory.
The names also include two MPs who were elected for Labour but have been suspended by the party – John McDonnell and Andrew Gwynne.
Other signatories are members of Northern Ireland’s political parties as well as Rosie Duffield, who quit Labour to sit as an independent.
It is believed senior cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, called MPs who had signed the amendment to try to convince them to vote with the government.
The BBC’s chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman said some cabinet members were “taken aback by quite how sour the mood is on this issue and fearful that might bleed into a broader problem for this Labour leadership”.
A source close to the issue told the BBC on Tuesday night: “Once you take a breath, it is better to save some of the welfare package than lose all of it.”
Parliament is due to vote on the government’s welfare reform plans next week.
It is still up to the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle whether this specific amendment gets voted on, but that could now be more likely as a number of other MPs from parties including the SDLP and the DUP have also added their names to the list.
The welfare reform bill – called the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill – will include proposals to make it harder for disabled people with less severe conditions to claim personal independence payment (Pip).
Speaking on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of Nato leaders, Sir Keir said he planned to “press ahead” with the welfare reforms, despite the objections from within his own party.
He said the current welfare system “traps people” on benefits, and was set to fuel “unsustainable” rises in the cost to taxpayers.
