Keir Starmer won Commons backing for his welfare Bill this evening after making further concessions to Labour rebels which leave the legislation eviscerated.

MPs rejected an amendment to sink the bill by 328 votes to 149 after an impassioned debate, suggesting a significant backbench revolt.

A further vote on approving the Bill was passed by 335 votes to 260, with the Tories voting against, cutting the government’s majority in half. It is believed 42 Labour MPs voted against the whip on the amendment.

Still facing defeat after earlier retreats that left benefits to disabled people already claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) untouched but threatened cuts for future claimants, Starmer backed down further at the eleventh hour.

Changes to PIP payments for future disabled claimants will now be paused until the conclusion of a review by Welfare Minister Stephen Timms, rather than being imposed from November 2026.

The latest retreat leaves the Bill bereft of most of its original purpose and without the £5 billion savings Chancellor Rachel Reeves was eager for.

And it leaves the Prime Minister’s authority radically diminished after bruising criticisms from normally loyal Labour MPs.

A clearly floundering Welfare Secretary Liz Kendall made almost no progress in convincing concerned MPs when she presented the Bill in the Commons.

She claimed that the government was “not ducking tough challenges” but offered no new changes to legislation which threatens impoverishment to disabled people in the future.

Moving the amendment to stop the Bill in its tracks, York Central Labour MP Rachel Maskell, a former Unite official, made a passionate speech that won support across the Commons. 

Begging the government to withdraw the Bill, she said that “these Dickensian cuts belong to a different era and a different party.

“They are far from what the Labour Party is for – a party to protect the poor, as is my purpose for I am my brother’s keeper, these are my constituents, my neighbours, my community, my responsibility, and I cannot cross by on the other side for one, let alone for the 150,000 who will be pushed further into poverty.

“There is a reason why we are a dystopian state of excessive wealth and abject poverty. It is because governments focus on what they value most,” which was never disabled people.

“If we can afford not to have a wealth tax” or to properly tax corporations, “we can afford to have PIP payments for the disabled,” Ms Maskell added.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called the Bill “a rushed attempt to plug the Chancellor’s fiscal hole. It is driven not by principle but by panic.”

Her three demands for overall support for government Bill were cutting the overall welfare bill; getting more people into work and a continuing commitment not to raise taxes.

It seems the Tories ultimately abstained on the vote, ensuring the passage of the much-diminished Bill, which will now go to Commons committees for scrutiny.

Labour MPs focused their criticisms on the two-tier nature of the cuts proposed at the start of the day and for failure to consult with disabled peoples organisation’s, 138 of which have opposed the Bill.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn said the Bill “does not come from an understanding of injustice and inequality in our society.  It comes from a  desire to save £5 billion.”

He urged MPs to respect the Labour Party’s history and traditions by voting against.

Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey reminded MPs that “there are alternatives: introduce higher taxes on extreme wealth; end the stealth subsidies for banks; tax gambling fairly and properly. The list of alternatives is endless.”

Hackney North MP Diane Abbott demanded ministers tackle tax avoidance rather than benefits, while independent MP Shockat Adam said “you cannot balance the budget on the back of the disabled.”

Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby, called the Bill “a shambles, immoral and made up on the fly” and former Labour chair Ian Lavery said when people voted Labour for change “they didn’t mean change for the worse.

And Leeds East MP Richard Burgon warned Labour MPs that if they backed the Bill or abstained the decision would be an albatross around their necks up until the next election.