Nothing is as damaging to Labour as its own rebel MPs

Divided parties do not win elections, and yet Labour cannot help itself.

- JOHN RENTOUL CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

The damage done to Keir Starmer by the rebellion over welfare changes is not just the number of MPs who voted against the Labour whip yesterday, but the revelation that so much of the party is in a state of boiling resentment against its own government.

It is not just MPs. Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan, the two elected Labour politicians with the largest democratic mandates of their own, oppose the disability benefits bill. And Survation polls of Labour members reveal that they rate Rachel Reeves, Liz Kendall and Starmer - the architects of the welfare changes - lowest among cabinet ministers.

Two-thirds of them think the party should “move to the left”, and more want a change of leadership before the next election (42 per cent) than want Starmer to stay on (40 per cent).

Of course, there is a legitimate debate about the welfare bill. Kendall has not made her case well, allowing the changes to appear to be purely Treasury-driven. And the leaders of the Labour rebellion sought to be constructive, making their representations in private.