Keir Starmer could pour money into tackling child poverty and row back on winter fuel payment cuts as he seeks to see off a Labour rebellion on benefits.
The two-child cap on handouts is said to be among measures that could be tweaked as the PM and Chancellor Rachel Reeves try to appease furious party backbenchers.
Scores of MPs are preparing to refuse to back plans to make it harder for people to claim disability payments next month that will save the Treasury £5bn and which they hope will get tens of thousands back into work.
Sources told the Sunday Times that changes to means-testing of the £300 winter fuel payment for pensioners, announced in the Budget, was also being 'discussed'.
Rebels believe as many as 170 Labour MPs could avoid voting for the disability benefit cuts, though around 100 will abstain rather than vote against it, a move that could see them lose the Labour whip.
