More than 120 Labour MPs have signed a ‘reasoned amendment’ opposing their own government’s welfare reform bill.

In what threatens to be the biggest rebellion of Keir Starmer’s premiership to date, opposition to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill has also come from high profile Labour mayors, including Sadiq Khan.

The government insists it plans to proceed with the Bill in its current form, which is due to take place next week.

Under the Bill, eligibility criteria for personal independence payments (PIP) will be tighten as the government seeks to reduce the benefit bill.

It says that since the pandemic the number of PIP awards has more than doubled – up from 13,000 a month to 34,000 a month. The surge has been largely by driven by a substantial increase in the number of people who report anxiety and depression as their main condition.

Here is the text of the ‘reasoned amendment’ opposing the Bill, which to date has been signed by more than 120 Labour MPs:

“That this House, whilst noting the need for the reform of the social security system, and agreeing with the government’s principles for providing support to people into work and protecting people who cannot work, declines to give a Second Reading to the Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill.

“Because its provisions have not been subject to a formal consultation with disabled people, or co-produced with them, or their carers. 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.

“Because the majority of the additional employment support funding will not be in place until the end of the decade; because the government’s own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of these provisions, including 50,000 children. Because the government has not published an assessment of the impact of these reforms on health or care needs.

“Because the government is still awaiting the findings of the Minister for Social Security and Disability’s review into the assessment for Personal Independence Payment and Sir Charlie Mayfield’s independent review into the role of employers and government in boosting the employment of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.”