Angela Rayner tells PMQs she knows some people are 'fearful' of welfare changes amid £5bn benefit crackdown

The deputy prime minister has admitted people are “fearful” of the Government’s upcoming welfare reforms amid a crackdown on benefits in a bid to save £5bn.

However, standing in for Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Angela Rayner stood by Labour’s plan “to get Britain working again”.

The UK Government is expected to publish more details about its welfare reform proposals on Wednesday, nearly three months after work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall announced a benefits crackdown to save £5bn by 2030.

The plans include changes to Universal Credit and Jobseekers’ 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.

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the Government’s own data suggests that 1.3 million disabled people are at risk of losing some support under these plans.

Cooper asked Rayner on Wednesday if she could “honestly say, hand on heart, that this is the change that one million disabled people and their carers were promised”.

Rayner responded: “Labour is the party of work, and also the party of fairness and social justice.

“We’ve announced a plan to get Britain working again, and we’re clear on the principles and I want to be clear on that. Those who want to work should be able to work, and those who can never work should be protected…

“I know how some people are fearful of the changes, but this Labour Government put its values into place and will ensure that people are supported into work where they can and, where they can’t, they are supported.”

MPs will vote on the reforms in the coming weeks, with many already expressing concerns about the plans.

There are rumours of a backbench rebellion among Labour’s ranks at Westminster.

SNP MP Pete Wishart asked the deputy prime minister if she agreed that everyone – including her own Labour MPs – have the right to oppose “such devastating cuts”.

“Is it the Prime Minister’s intention to remove the whip from any Labour MP who does the right thing and votes against these disability cuts?” Wishart asked.

Rayner did not directly answer the question.

Instead, she said the UK Government had given Scotland the “biggest” devolution settlement in history, and emphasised that her Government is “absolutely committed” to ending child poverty, supporting families and “getting on with the job of rebuilding Britain”.