Benefit reforms now more likely - as chief Labour rebel signals she'll back them

Labour MPs are now ready to back welfare reforms, the architect of last summer’s rebellion, which forced the Government to water down its benefit cuts, has said.

Dame Meg Hillier, an influential Labour MP, said that the review of youth joblessness by Alan Milburn, published at the end of last month, had been a “game-changer” and that opinion in the Parliamentary Labour Party is “worlds apart” from last year.

Crucially, Hillier said it was fair to attach conditions to receiving benefits and that she did not think a Labour leadership contest would derail reforms.

Shorts

The intervention comes amid warnings that benefit spending must urgently be reined in to free up more money for the military, with the Defence Secretary John Healey resigning on Thursday in protest at the funding settlement for the Defence Investment Plan.