Rachel Reeves hit out at Labour benefit cut rebels today, warning the system had to be ‘reformed’ if people are to get out of poverty.

The Chancellor and Prime Minister Keir Starmer are facing potentially the largest rebellion of their time in office over plans to make it harder to claim disability payments and go on the long-term sick.

More than 80 backbenchers are said to have put their names to a private letter to No10 saying raising concerns about the plan, which will save £7billion and aims to get those who can work into jobs.

They are said to be unhappy about the fact that the full impact of the cuts will not be revealed until after the vote in June.

It comes after more than 40 MPs from the party’s left said they would not vote for the change because of the impact on those already struggling to make ends meet.

It is not clear if there is any overlap between the two groups, but if there is not, it means potentially more than a quarter of Sir Keir’s 403 MPs.

However Ms Reeves today told broadcasters that even Labour backbenchers knew that the system inherited from the Tories was not working.

‘They know that the system needs reform. We do need to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to grow our economy,’ she said.

‘But crucially, if we’re going to lift people out of poverty and give more people the chance to fulfil their potential, the focus has got to be on supporting people into work.

The Chancellor and Prime Minister Keir Starmer are facing potentially the largest rebellion of their time in office over plans to make it harder to claim disability payments and go on the long-term sick.

More than 80 backbenchers are said to have put their names to a private letter to No10 saying raising concerns about the plan to save £7billion by tightening the rules about going on the sick.

It is not clear if there is any overlap between the two groups, but if there is not, it means potentially more than a quarter of Sir Keir’s 403 MPs.

‘Of course, if you can’t work the welfare state must always be there for you, and with this Government it will be.

‘But there are many people that are trapped on benefits that are desperate to work, that have been cut out of opportunity for too long. That will change under this Government.’

The Government currently has a working majority of 165, but it is not clear how many MPs would vote against the move to tighten eligibility for the personal independence payment, known as Pip.

Earlier this week,  Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne said he would ‘swim through vomit to vote against’ proposed welfare changes.

He was joined in criticising the policy by his Labour colleagues Richard Burgon, Rachael Maskell, Andy McDonald, Cat Eccles, Nadia Whittome, Imran Hussain and Ian Lavery, who each said they were among the MPs who would vote against the Government’s proposals.

A government source told the Times they were confident that numbers would be low, adding that ‘ultimately people are scared and don’t want to lose the whip’ after seven backbenchers were suspended last year for voting to abandon the two-child benefit cap.

In its Pathways to Work Green Paper, the Government has proposed a clampdown on Pip.

A claimant must score a minimum of four points on one Pip daily living activity, such as preparing food, washing and bathing, using the toilet or reading, to receive the daily living element of the benefit.

According to the document, ‘this means that people who only score the lowest points on each of the Pip daily living activities will lose their entitlement in future’.

Fourteen MPs who entered the Commons just last year are among the 42 signatories of the open letter demanding a U-turn.

They warn that the plan would affect three million ‘of our poorest and most disadvantaged’.

However it comes at a time when Sir Keir is facing demands to get the economy going to see off the threat of Reform, which is leading most opinion polls.

The Labour Growth Group, an influential caucus of moderate new MPs, has sounded the alarm that Nigel Farage will become PM unless the UK gets out of an ‘economic doom loop’.

Amid evidence of deepening rifts on the government benches, Labour MPs have been warned they face the ‘fight of our lives’ against Mr Farage in the wake of difficult local election results.

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden appealed for the party to pull together in ‘a battle for the very future and the heart and soul of our country’ earlier this week.

But in a letter published by the Guardian, the anti-cuts MPs, who include Diane Abbott and Stella Creasy, said: ‘Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine.

‘Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.’