Politics latest: PM braced for his biggest rebellion - but another person in government should be worried

'Dickensian cuts from another era,' says Labour rebel behind key amendment

 Rachael Maskell is now speaking, ahead of her amendment being put to a vote later this evening. 

A reminder: The Labour backbencher's amendment would effectively kill the bill if enough MPs back it. We know of more than 40.

Speaking in the Commons, Maskell says her amendment has been shaped and backed by 138 deaf and disabled people's organisations.

The Labour rebel adds: "These Dickensian cuts belong to a different era and a different party. They are far from what this Labour Party is for: a party to protect the poor."

She highlights the government's own findings that the bill is likely to push an estimated 150,000 further people into poverty.

Maskell warns: "600 people took their lives under the Tories' brutal reforms - the tragedy of this ideology could be worse."

'A dystopian state'

Maskell also criticises the government's current concessions to rebels for not covering new PIP claimants after November 2026.

From that date, new claimants will face a different set of criteria compared to those already receiving personal independence payments.

Maskell also calls the UK a "a dystopian state of excess wealth and abject poverty".

She explains: "If we can afford not to have a wealth tax, not to equalise capital gains or draw on the excess profits of corporate greed, then we can afford to pay for a disabled person. We must clear the way to this."

The rebel concludes by quoting Nelson Mandela, saying: "May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears."

'They have treated us with contempt': Rebel MP says they will vote against welfare bill

One Labour rebel tells Sky News they will vote against tonight's welfare bill despite the prime minister offering significant concessions.

Although the MP welcomes the concessions, they say the U-turn was an "admission we haven't got this right".

"The crux of the issue is I won't be an MP forever, but vulnerable people will always need help, support, and protection.

"This is where the Labour Party should be."

Cuts will be 'catastrophic' for disabled people

The MP also has some strong words about how the government has handled the issue over the past few days, when it was facing a rebellion of more than 120 Labour MPs.

"They have started treated us with contempt," they say.

"We are here to represent our constituents, and they have told us this is going to be catastrophic for them."

The MP also brands Keir Starmer's renewed defence of his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney as "tin eared". The PM defended him at a cabinet meeting this morning, amid criticism of the government's strategy.

"The idea that anyone in politics is protected and can do whatever they want is just stupid," the MP said.

"Let's be honest, it wasn't Morgan who won the election, it was the Tories. They gifted it to us."

'What was once a safety net has become a trap'

 Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is now up, responding to Liz Kendall.

"We are staring down the barrel of a crisis that no serious government can ignore," she says.

"The welfare system no longer works as it should, what was once a safety net has become a trap.

"A system designed to protect the most vulnerable is now encouraging dependency and dragging this country into deeper debt."

It's the chancellor's fault, says Badenoch

Badenoch dismisses the government's attempt to blame the Tories for how the welfare system is performing, saying her party introduced universal credit and brought unemployment to a "record low".

She says unemployment has risen under the Labour government, while 3,000 people are moving on to incapacity benefits every day.

The Tory leader says the welfare bill does nothing to fix how much the country spends on benefits, which will "bankrupt our children".

Badenoch says the bill is a "fudge", and that she feels sorry for Kendall - who "looks as if she is being tortured". She blames the chancellor, saying the welfare cuts are a "rushed attempt" to plug a hole in her finances.

"It is driven not by principle but by panic," she adds.

But, Badenoch says, the chancellor isn't the only one to blame - she questions why Labour came to power with no plan for welfare.

Kendall defends review into PIP

One of the main criticism from Labour rebels about the welfare reforms is that the Timms review into personal independence payments (PIP) will be published at roughly the same time as the changes come into force.

That's from November 2026.

For context: The Timms review is named after Stephen Timms, the disabilities minister. It will look into PIP as a whole.

'A major undertaking'

Defending the move, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall says the review "is a major undertaking that will take time to get right, especially if we co-produce it properly".

This means working alongside disability groups and others.

Kendall adds that any changes from the review "will be implemented as soon as is practicably possible".

And she says that after any changes are made, existing PIP claimants will be able to ask for a reassessment.

'Everybody should have the chance to fulfil their potential'

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is on her feet in the House of Commons, as a debate on her major welfare reforms begins.

She begins by noting that the reforms seek to fix "the broken benefits system that we inherited from the party opposite, and to deliver a better life for millions of people across our country".

Kendall says they are rooted in the idea that "everybody should have the chance to fulfil their potential, no matter where they are born or what their parents did".

The minister says the Tories left a system that "incentivises people to define themselves as incapable of work just to be able to afford to live."

Reforms will help 'raise living standards'

The result, she says, is 2.8 million people out of work due to long term sickness, which she says isn't sustainable.

Kendall says Labour has a mission to get more people into good jobs, which will "raise living standards" and "brings a sense of purpose, pride, and dignity".

In response to concerns about the employment support promised alongside the welfare reforms, she says the government is bringing forward an additional £300m to help sick and disabled people find work.

The minister adds she is "very proud" to be delivering a sustained rise to the standard universal credit allowance, which will benefit 6.7 million households, and has listened to concerns about the health top-up, which will rise in line with inflation "for existing and future claimants".

-SKY NEWS