BREAKING: DWP chief Liz Kendall breaks silence following dramatic welfare climbdown

Liz Kendall has said she hopes a dramatic welfare climbdown changes rebel minds.

Labour 's Work and Pensions Secretary told broadcasters she hopes the measures - which will see current PIP claimants continue to receive full payments - make a difference. The benefit changes were in doubt after 126 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would torpedo the measures.

Some Labour MPs appear to be convinced, although the Government still faces a showdown in a key vote on Tuesday. Ms Kendall said: "I hope these changes will mean we get support for our bill, a bill that wants to ensure fairness in the welfare system for people who really need support and fairness for the taxpayer, too. But we also all agree that there do need to be changes in future to make sure that people who can work do so, we protect those who can't, but we make the welfare state sustainable for the future."

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Overnight the Government announced a string of concessions aimed at steering off a rebellion over personal independence payments (PIP) and health-related Universal Credit benefits. In a bid to satisfy rebels Ms Kendall announced the Government would plough ahead - but made key concessions.

The move has satisfied some, including Dame Meg Hillier, who put forward the amendment that sparked the crisis. She described it as a "positive outcome" and said ministers had come up with a "workable compromise".

But others warned the compromise would create a "two-tier" system of disability payments, as Labour critics made clear they were going nowhere.

Mr Starmer is relying on enough MPs switching their opposition to get the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill through a make-or-break vote on Tuesday.

Nadia Whittome, who was one of 126 who signed a motion that threatened to completely torpedo the legislation, told the BBC: "I'm very clear that these revised proposals are nowhere near enough and actually would create a two tier benefit system."

She explained: "We have a situation where someone with the same disability and the same level of needs doesn't get PIP just because they became disabled at a later date or gets less money in the Universal Credit health element because they became disabled at a later date.

"If you're somebody with a fluctuating or degenerative condition who doesn't need PIP or the Universal Credit health element now, but knows that you'll probably need it in the future, that's not going to be any comfort to you.

"If you're a parent of a disabled child who knows that their child is likely to need PIP in the future, that's not going to be any comfort to you."

And Andy McDonald, who is also at the left of the party, confirmed he would still vote against the Bill. He told Times Radio: "Yes, I'll be voting against it because it hasn't dealt with the totality of the picture. It is bringing about the change, it's just poverty delayed, or poverty postponed for millions of people in the future. And as it currently stands, despite rumours to the contrary, people who are received a personal independence payment or the UC health element are not living in the lap of luxury."