Minister defends Liz Kendall’s handling of welfare reform brief despite major rebellion before vote – UK politics live

Pat McFadden insists welfare reform change vote will go ahead as planned but says party will ‘engage with’ rebels

• Labour MPs launch major rebellion to stop welfare bill

Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden has praised Liz Kendall’s handling of her government brief amid a rebellion by Labour MPs over welfare reform plans.

Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme how long she could stay in her job if she could not convince Labour MPs to vote alongside the government, McFadden said “Liz Kendall is doing an excellent job.”

She has been central to the development of these reforms.

She has argued for them, not as a difficult choice, but as the right choice, because she believes in a welfare state that should be there for people.

We are an outlier in terms of the proportion of people in work in the UK compared to other countries, when you look back at what it was before Covid.

And so the set of reforms that we brought forward are aimed at ensuring the welfare state is there for people who need it.