Rebel Labour MPs stand firm against welfare cuts.

Labour rebels are doubling down on their opposition to Sir Keir Starmer’s benefit cuts despite ministers planning to offer spending on child poverty as a trade-off” to win their support.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

Dozens of Labour MPs are expected to abstain or vote against the £4.8bn welfare cuts, announced in Rachel Reeves’s spring statement, when they come before parliament. Ministers and party whips held talks with concerned Labour MPs last week, and opposition to the plans is reportedly hardening.

In a bid to minimise the scale of a rebellion, which threatens to be the biggest against Sir Keir’s government yet, the government is planning to publish its long-awaited strategy to tackle child poverty shortly before the crunch vote.

The strategy will contain additional money for poor parents of under-fives, The Observer reported, with work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall believed to be looking at plans to support young children without going as far as scrapping the controversial two-child benefit cap.