Analysed: Keir Starmer's welfare 'humiliation'

The government's Welfare Reform bill has limped over its first Commons hurdle.

LBC's political editor Natasha Clark gives her assessment to Nick Ferrari, who is also joined by Labour rebel Cat Eccles (04:20) to explain why she opposed the bill.

The legislation cleared its first hurdle by 335 votes to 260, majority 75.

Sir Keir Starmer was forced to abandon a key plank of his welfare reform package in the face of the rebellion.

A further concession was offered to rebel Labour MPs with just an hour to go before the vote.

Cuts to Personal Independence Payments - commonly known as PIP - will now not take place until after a review.

The decision to remove key parts of the Bill is remarkable for a Government with a working majority of 165 and after just under a year in office.

Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East, says that the bill should have been pulled and amendment

He told LBC's Aggie Chambre that Labour MPs have been "treated like mugs- they've been asked to vote for a bill, unamended, to save political face."

Mr Burgon continued: "This bill still contains billions of pounds of cuts for disabled people. It's not a good day for the Labour party.

"This is the winter fuel bill x100. This does not pass the test of 'can you explain it to your constituents?"

Rachel Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, said a number of her colleagues had been "bullied" into passing the bill, leaving them "deeply distressed".

The claims were not qualified, nor any detail provided. Labour said they reject the premise and it is not something they recognise. They said the claims were "unsubstantiated".

Mother of the House Diane Abbott, Stella Creasy (Walthamstow), Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford) and Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) were among the 49 Labour MPs who unsuccessfully tried to block the welfare reform Bill at second reading.

Josh Fenton Glynn Labour MP for Calder Valley, who voted for the bill, told LBC: "I was prepared to vote against the government as I was really concerned.

"They changed enough that I felt confident the new bill will help sort out the system."

Mr Fenton Glynn said he changed his mind when it became "clear the government was listening" and did not make changed to the personal independence payment (PIP).

Another supporter, Sadik Al-Hassan, Labour MP for North Somerset, said: "The negative aspects of the bill have been stripped out."

The Government shelved plans to restrict PIP and any changes will now only come after a review of the benefit.

The climbdown came just 90 minutes before MPs were due to vote for the first time on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.

It will cause a major headache for Chancellor Rachel Reeves as the welfare squeeze was originally meant to save £4.8 billion a year, which was subsequently reduced to £2.3 billion when the Bill was first watered down last week.

Postponing any changes to the eligibility criteria for Pip means it is now uncertain how much the reforms will save from the soaring welfare bill.

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