In a desperate attempt to save face, the Government has granted concessions to the 130 Labour MPs threatening to rebel over the cuts to disability benefits contained within the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill.

But the haphazard and last-ditch nature of this deal demonstrates how ill-thought-through the original proposals were – and why the rebels were right in their initial call for the bill to be withdrawn and rethought.

Their reasons were clear, as set out in their reasoned amendment: “because its provisions have not been subject to a formal consultation with disabled people”; “because the Office for Budget Responsibility is not due to publish its analysis of the employment impact of these reforms until the autumn of 2025”; and “the Government has not published an assessment of the impact of these reforms on health or care needs”. All of that still applies.

The changes, as laid out by Liz Kendall last week, mean that all existing claimants of personal independence payments (PIP) will be exempt from the cuts to eligibility and the new qualifying requirements will be........

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