Keir Starmer will likely be faced with difficult questions at PMQs on Wednesday over the sweeping package of benefit reforms announced this week.
Starmer has not publicly spoken about the reforms since they were announced, but that is likely to change on Wednesday when opposition leaders will have the opportunity to challenge the Prime Minister at PMQs.
On Tuesday, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall unveiled a series of reforms to the welfare system that will significantly change the support that disabled people or those with long-term health conditions receive.
The reforms are intended to make £5bn worth of savings by 2030, and they include changes to Universal Credit and Job Seekers Allowance as well as new, stricter eligibility requirements for sick and disabled people receiving Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
Labour is also set to raise the age at which people can claim PIP to 22.
The Government also wants to scrap the Work Capability Assessment and give people a “right to try” work guarantee to get people back into employment.
Labour said the changes will “unlock work, boost employment, and tackle the broken benefits system to unlock growth as part of the government’s Plan for Change”.
However, the reaction has been mixed – even from MPs in Starmer’s own Labour party.
On Wednesday morning, former MSP Neil Findlay quit the Labour party in protest against the welfare system reforms. In his open letter on X, Findlay accused Labour of trying to “punish and stigmatise the weak, poor and the vulnerable”.
PMQs will kick off at noon on Wednesday.
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