The U-turn, including protecting personal independence payments (Pip) for existing claimants, comes after 126 MPs threatened to vote against the government.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has given way to political pressure and watered down planned welfare reforms to avert defeat by his own party’s lawmakers.

Labour party opponents of the UK government’s £5 billion ($6.8 billion) cut to disability benefits have secured enough support to block the plan, setting up a high-stakes test of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership less than a year into office.