Sir Keir Starmer is locked in last-minute talks with Labour rebels as he paves the way for a major climbdown on his planned benefit cuts.
The prime minister is having a “busy day”, Downing Street said, as he desperately tries to win back the support of disgruntled backbenchers and stave off a humiliating rebellion over his flagship welfare reforms.
After more than 120 of his MPs signed an amendment threatening to kill the welfare reform bill ahead of its second reading on Tuesday, the prime minister said conversations “will continue in the coming days”.
While he doubled down on the need for change, saying benefits claimants “are failed every single day” by a “broken system”, he admitted that MPs want to see “reform implemented with Labour values of fairness”.
He said: “On social security, I recognise there is a consensus across the House on the urgent need for reform of our welfare system, because the British people deserve protection and dignity when they are unable to work and supported to work when they can.
“At the moment, they are failed every single day by the broken system created by the Conservatives, which achieves neither.
“I know colleagues across the House are eager to start fixing that, and so am I, and that all colleagues want to get this right, and so do I.
“We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday.” Talk of a U-turn on the measures raised fears that any financial gap will have to be plugged by spending cuts elsewhere or tax hikes. The prime minister’s official spokesman was unable to rule out tax rises to pay for any concessions.
Meanwhile, a Downing Street source said ministers are “talking to colleagues about the bill and the changes it will bring”.
The attempt to head off a revolt by Labour MPs comes just a day after deputy prime minister Angela Rayner defended the cuts and Sir Keir insisted the vote would go ahead on Tuesday.
There is growing anger at the PM’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, after Labour MPs called for “regime change” in Downing Street.
“We are all very happy that we have a leader who’s so respected around the world… we just think he needs fewer over-excitable boys in his team,” one MP told The Times.
On Thursday, Douglas Alexander claimed that, having read the rebel amendment, “the first thing that strikes you is that everyone agrees welfare needs reform and that the system is broken”.
The trade minister told Sky News: “Everyone recognises you’re trying to take people off benefits and into work, because that’s better for them and also better for our fiscal position.
“Where there is some disagreement at the moment is on the issue of how you give implementation to those principles.”
Mr Alexander said a second reading vote like Tuesday’s was usually on the principles of legislation, but the rebellion has forced ministers to consider “how to give implementation to those principles”. “So given the high level of agreement on the principles, the discussions over the coming days will really be about the implementation of those principles,” he said.
The total number of Labour MPs who have signed the amendment against Sir Keir’s welfare cuts hit 126 on Wednesday, despite rebels being warned they could be deselected and the government could collapse if they support it.
Efforts to win over rebels had been led by health secretary Wes Streeting, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall.
Asked what concessions could be offered to convince those would oppose the bill to back the government, Ms Rayner sought to reassure backbenchers that they would not be expected to betray the party’s traditional values.
“I’m not going to get into that on your show tonight,” the deputy prime minister said in an interview on ITV’s Peston programme.
“Those discussions are ongoing around making sure that the welfare reforms that we’re bringing in support people into work who need that, and we’re putting a huge amount of investment into doing that, but also protecting the most vulnerable.”
She acknowledged that “a lot of people are very scared about these changes” but added: “I haven’t changed my Labour values and we’re not expecting our benches to do anything that isn’t in check with them.
“What we want to do is support people, and that is the crucial bit around these reforms of what Labour are trying to achieve, and we’re discussing that with our MPs.”
The plans restrict eligibility for personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit. The government hopes the changes will get more people back into work and save up to £5 billion a year.
Existing claimants will be given a 13-week phase-out period of financial support, a move seen as a bid to head off opposition by aiming to soften the impact of the changes.
The fact that so many Labour MPs are prepared to put their names to the “reasoned amendment” calling for a change of course shows how entrenched the opposition remains.
One backbencher preparing to vote against the Bill said: “A lot of people have been saying they’re upset about this for months. To leave it until a few days before the vote, it’s not a very good way of running the country.
“It’s not very grown up.”
They said that minor concessions would not be enough, warning: “I don’t think you can tinker with this. They need to go back to the drawing board.”
According to the government’s impact assessment, the welfare reforms as a whole could push an extra 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into relative poverty.
