STRUGGLING to save his premiership, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer looks set to offer concessions to buy off Labour welfare rebels before he suffers a humiliating Commons defeat next week.

Sir Keir told MPs that “we want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness.”

“That conversation will continue in the coming days, so that we can begin making change together on Tuesday,” he added in a notable shift in rhetoric.

At present, 126 Labour MPs have signed up to an amendment designed to scuttle the Bill, which would axe £5 billion from benefits for disabled people.

If the Tories back the amendment, that would be enough to defeat the government despite its enormous parliamentary majority, a mortal rebuke to Sir Keir.

Anxious Labour MPs were blaming Downing Street Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney for the debacle, asserting that he is blinded by hatred of the Labour left to the consequences of the policies he advocates.

Most of the rebel MPs have no background on the left, and many were elected for the first time last year, having been hand-picked by Sir Keir and Mr McSweeney.

They were being intensively lobbied by ministers this week. A rebellion on this scale cannot, however, plausibly be met by Sir Keir’s preferred authoritarian methods, like withdrawing the Labour whip.

Potential concessions being contemplated include a speed-up of support to help get disabled people into jobs and future reviews of policies.

But one back=bench MP warned 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.”

A Downing Street spokesman declined to confirm the Prime Minister’s confidence in his chief of staff, although the latter remains in post.

Polling indicates that only a quarter of the public supports the cuts. More than half believed they would worsen conditions for disabled people, pollsters More in Common found.

Sir Keir sought refuge in militarist bluster today, backing US strikes on Iran while claiming that the limited Iranian response aimed at a US base in Doha was “unacceptable.”

He boasted of “the return of the Royal Air Force to nuclear deterrence for the first time in three decades” with the purchase of new fighters able to deliver nuclear weapons, and indicated that his economic plans are being driven by war.

“We will align our national security objectives and plans for economic growth in a way not seen since the 1940s, renewing industrial communities the length and breadth of our country, boosting defence production and innovation,” he said.