Prime Minister Keir Starmer was sitting behind Liz Kendall in the Commons as she delivered her statement.

He's just now posted on X: "When I talk about opportunity for all, I mean it."

"This government will always protect the most severely disabled people to live with dignity," he adds.

"But we’re not prepared to stand back and do nothing while millions of people — especially young people — who have potential to work and live independent lives, instead become trapped out of work and abandoned by the system.

"It would be morally bankrupt to let their life chances waste away."

Green MP Siân Berry says she’s heard nothing today that shows the government has listened to disabled people.

Charities and groups have been “begging to be included, and not as an afterthought”, she adds.

She asks if Liz Kendall can explain why disabled people are feeling “so disregarded and scapegoated”.

The work and pensions secretary says she will be working with disabled people and organisations on many aspects of what she’s announced today.

Back in the chamber, Labour MP Clive Lewis asks Liz Kendall whether the Department for Work and Pensions - of which she is the head - has considered the “pain and difficulty” these changes will cause millions of people “on the brink”.

“I would like her department to be able to look my constituents in the eye when I go back to them to tell them this is going to work for them,” he adds.

Kendall says that getting more people into better paid jobs is “the key to their future success”.

Tom Espiner
Business reporter

Away from the Commons, disability rights charity Scope has come out strongly against the welfare reform plans, saying the cuts should "shame the government to its core".

James Taylor, the charity's executive director of strategy, said the government is "choosing to penalise some of the poorest people in our society".

“Life costs more if you are disabled," he says. "Ripping £5bn out of the system by 2030 will be a catastrophe for disabled peoples’ living standards and independence."

The government will consult on some of the reforms, and not on others.

Taylor says he expects the consultation to receive "an overwhelming response", and urges the government "to listen to disabled people and think again".

Responding for the Lib Dems, Steve Darling says his party wants to see more people in work, including those with disabilities.

The "significant blocker" is the "appalling state" of the health and social care system, he says, adding it "desperately" needs investment.

He says he fears what the government has just announced will prove to be just "tinkering around the edges", claiming instead real cultural change is needed at the Department for Work and Pensions.

In response, Kendall says the government is investing more in the NHS and overhauling her department's culture.

MPs are now debating the sweeping changes to the welfare system announced just now by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.

They are aimed at saving £5bn before the end of 2030 and fixing the "broken benefits system", she told the Commons.

You can watch back a key part of that announcement below:

Debbie Abraham, Labour MP and chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, says she agrees the social security system is not fit for purpose and increasing universal credit will be positively felt.

She says the £5bn cut is the largest in social security support since 2015 and there are more "compassionate ways to balance the books".

She thinks as a matter of urgency the government must publish the mental health impact of the cuts.

Kendall says equality and poverty analysis will be published in the Spring Statement.

Responding to her Tory opposite, Kendall says Helen Whatley appears to be railing against the Tories' failings and "lamenting action" the party didn't take.

She claims Labour is taking "decisive action", and that she isn't interested in being "tough", saying this is about "real people, with real lives".

She says she is interested in transforming lives and building a system that lasts.

Chris Mason
Political editor

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, is repeatedly heckling the shadow work and pensions secretary, Helen Whately.

As she sets out the elements of the government’s package the previous government was working on already, he keeps chipping in: "But you didn’t do it, you didn’t do it."

It's now the job of shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately to respond for the opposition.

She says she agrees with Liz Kendall on one thing - that the welfare bill is too high.

Whatley adds that the best way to bring it down is by getting people off benefits and into work - which, she says, the Conservatives did “year after year”.

She defends the Tories’ record and says they identified ways of tackling these issues, “but at every point, Labour opposed them”.

She asks how many people these policies will get back into work and when, and says it is “fundamentally too little, too late”.

This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30, Kendall says.

Moving onto the third and final objective, she says it is to deliver personalised support to sick and disabled people who can work to get the jobs they "need and deserve".

"This Labour government believes that an active state can transform people's lives," she says, announcing an additional £1bn a year for employment support.

Alongside this, for those on the universal credit health top-up they will bring in an "expectation to engage" alongside an offer of personalised employment support, she says.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The contours of what Liz Kendall just announced had become clear via briefings to MPs and the media over the past few weeks.

Probably the most significant announcement that was not trailed in advance was Kendall’s announcement that those aged under 22 will no longer be able to claim the incapacity benefit top up to universal credit.

That appears designed to disrupt the flow of young people from school straight onto health benefits – one of the issues which has most alarmed ministers.

We're still listening to the Commons, but here's some of what we've heard so far:

Universal credit:

• There will be permanent above-inflation rises to universal credit
• Universal credit claimants with severe, lifelong disabilities will not usually face benefits reassessments
• The work capability assessment for universal credit is to be scrapped in 2028 - the assessment essentially determines whether someone is able to work

'Right to try':

• People will have the right to try returning to work "without the fear this will put their benefits at risk". Kendall says this will tackle the "perverse financial incentives... which actively encourage people into welfare dependency"

Personal independence payments:

• People will need to score a minimum of four points in one category to qualify for the daily living element of Pip, which is the main disability benefit. This won’t affect the mobility component of Pip

Merging benefits:

• The government will consult on merging jobseeker's allowance and employment support allowance into a time-limited "unemployment insurance"
• "If you have paid into the system, you'll get stronger income protection while we help you get back on track," Kendall says

Savings:

• Kendall says the crackdown on benefits aims to save £5bn by 2030

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

There’s a lot here, which Liz Kendall is racing through from the despatch box.

Most crucially, so far, she has confirmed the expectation that eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) will be narrowed.

This section of the announcement was described in terms of what “points” a claimant would need to qualify but around a million people are likely to be affected.

This is likely to prove the most politically controversial element of today’s announcements, within the Labour Party at least.

Kendall continues by saying the government will not means test or freeze Personal Independence Payment (Pip).

She says that instead claimants will need to score four points in at least one activity.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Here are the government’s ideas, written down — the so-called Green Paper. , external

Kendall says she wants to ensure that those on universal credit with the “most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve” won’t be reassessed “to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve”.

She says the government will “fundamentally overhaul” the DWP safeguarding approach to protect and support the most vulnerable.

Disability benefits will also be reformed to ensure the social security system “lasts for the long term into the future”, she adds.

Kendall now talks about a "right to try" scheme, so people can go back to work without fearing for their benefits.

She says the current system is based on a binary assessment of "can or can't work", which does not take into account fluctuating symptoms.

She says the government will balance the payments in universal credit from April next year.

There will be an additional premium for people who will never be able to work.

She also announces a permanent above inflation rise to universal credit to £775 by 2029/30.

Kendall says the government's second objective is to "restore trust and fairness" in the benefits system by fixing the "broken assessment process" and tackling the "perverse incentives that drive people into welfare dependency".

She outlines criticisms of the current work capability assessment, announcing Labour will not go ahead with the Conservative's proposals to change it, and instead will scrap it entirely by 2028.

In future, extra financial support for health conditions in universal credit will only be assessed through Personal Independence Payment (Pip) so extra income is based on the impact of someone's health condition or disability, not on their capacity to work, she says.

Liz Kendall continues, saying this is a "decisive shift toward prevention and early interventions".

There are four million people in work with limiting conditions, but 300,000 are falling out of work every year, she says.

We have to do more to help people stay in work, she says, adding that the government will help more employers give more disabled people more opportunities.

She goes on to announce that the Green Paper will consult on major reform of contributory benefits.

Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) and employment and support allowance (ESA) will be merged into a new time-limited unemployment insurance which will be paid at a higher rate, without having to prove you cannot work in order to get it, she says.