Sir Keir Starmer has defiantly vowed to press ahead with his controversial welfare reforms despite more than 100 of his own MPs gearing up to reject the plans.
The stubborn prime minister hit back at Labour rebels, warning that “those who care about a future welfare system” must support the legislation.
But with question marks about whether he could survive a potential defeat the prime minister also insisted on Sky News that it is “not a confidence vote”.
It came as a senior backbencher made it clear many rebels are looking for blood with Sir Keir sacking his chancellor Rachel Reeves and changing policy or facing a challenge to his leadership.
“This ends one of two ways: either we sack him or he sacks her (Reeves),” the MP said.
The chancellor is being blamed more for the push to cut welfare than the beleaguered work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall who has to try to win the vote.
Ms Kendall’s appearance before a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening did little to help the government’s cause despite “some obviously planted friendly questions”, an MP noted.
MPs are set to vote on the reforms next Tuesday, which are expected to save the Treasury £5bn a year in savings, mostly by reducing personal independence payments (PIPs) for those with disabilities.
So far 108 Labour backbenchers have signed a reasoned amendment to kill the bill with organisers of the rebellion privately admitting to surprise at the number of MPs who have backed it.
As many as 12 ministers are understood to be considering rebelling against the legislation, while 108 Labour MPs have signed a new amendment which would stop the bill in its tracks.
But speaking to journalists on the plane to the Nato summit in the Hague, Sir Keir said: “We were elected to change what is broken in our country. The welfare system is broken, and that’s why we will press ahead with our reforms. It’s very important that we do so, because the current system is not working for anybody.
“People are trapped in it, and I’m not prepared to allow that to happen. So we will press forward with our reforms”.
The prime minister also denied that he had failed to persuade his own MPs of the moral case for the reforms.
“There is a clear moral case, which is the current system doesn’t help those who want to get into work. It traps people. I think it’s 1,000 people a day going on to PIP.
“The additions to PIP each year are the equivalent of the population of a city the size of Leicester.That is not a system that can be left unreformed, not lease because it’s unsustainable, and therefore you won’t have a welfare system for those that need it in the future.”
Taking a swipe at the more than 100 Labour rebels, he added: “Those that care about a future welfare system have to answer the question – ‘how do you reform what you’ve got to make sure it’s sustainable for the future?
“But it’s not sustainable to add a city the size of Leicester every year and assume that can be a sustainable future, a model for the future.”
It comes after Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said the government would listen to Labour MPs, but suggested changes to the reforms were unlikely.
