Ailbhe Rea: An 11th-Hour Scramble to Save Starmer’s Welfare Cuts

Good afternoon from an absolutely sweltering House of Commons, where, at roughly 7pm, Keir Starmer faces a knife-edge vote on his welfare reforms, and an eleventh-hour scramble to avert defeat.

“We all know why this is happening,” one MP said as the debate opened this afternoon. “This is a rushed attempt to plug the chancellor’s fiscal hole. It is driven not by principle, but by panic. The changes were forced through not because they get more people into work, but because someone in Number 11 Downing Street made a mistake.”