Rachel Reeves has the prime minister's "full backing", a Downing Street spokesman says, after the chancellor was seen crying in the House of Commons
Asked why Reeves was tearful, her spokesperson says: "It's a personal matter, which - as you would expect - we are not going to get into"
Allies of Reeves later say she was upset after an altercation with Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle - although no-one the BBC spoke to witnessed the interaction personally
The scenes in the Commons were noticed in the financial markets, with the cost of government borrowing subsequently rising, the BBC's Faisal Islam writes
At the same session of Prime Minister's Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says people are "frightened" of tax rises and asks Starmer to rule them out
Starmer responds: "No prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the dispatch box and writes budgets in the future
Last night, the government's welfare bill was approved by 335 votes to 260 after ministers made last-minute concessions to avoid possible defeat
Reeves appears tearful during PMQs
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Some previously rebellious Labour voices are now getting behind the bill after the latest concessions.
Laurence Turner says he trusts Stephen Timms’ assurances, which gets a "hear hear" from Labour colleagues.
Darren Paffey also backs the bill but says he will vote against it at third reading if the government’s promised concessions have not been made.
Image source, House of CommonsLabour MP Ian Lavery says that, like many people, he's being "absolutely ignored" with regards to this bill.
He says it was published with "very little consultation, if any".
"I've been here 15 years and never once seen a massive commitment given in a bill like the minister gave, in an intervention. This is crazy, man, this is outrageous, man."
Lavery goes on: "I think if we had another hour or two we could have voted on something that we all could have agreed on - instead of this hotchpotch of a bill that means nothing to nobody."
There are a few cries of "hear, hear" as he urges ministers to rethink, but most Labour MPs are listening in silence. Liz Kendall has now left the chamber again.
Chris Mason
Political editor
One massive U-turn wasn’t enough to stave off potential defeat for the government.
So – extraordinarily – in the last hour or so, another U-turn from ministers. And here’s why: brutal mathematics.
Downing Street might command a massive majority, but today, this last week, it hasn’t commanded the House of Commons.
I’m told late this afternoon they were confronted with numbers which suggested defeat was very realistic.
Yet another backtracking lever would have to be yanked. Now Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare reforms appear threadbare; shorn of their central pillars of just a week ago.
His Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, humiliated again – her words just hours ago later fed into the shredder. A penny for her thoughts right now.
In this, the week of this government’s first anniversary, its biggest humiliation – a certain chapter heading in its story, whatever happens in the coming years.
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Finally, a supportive voice from the Labour benches as Clwyd North MP Gill German says she will be voting for the bill.
The welfare system is in need of reform and although all the focus has been on Pip, the bill will also increase universal credit payments for many, she tells MPs.
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Labour MP Diane Abbott echoes her colleague Paula Barker, saying MPs have been asked to "vote on the basis of what ministers claim they are going to do", with mere verbal assurances.
She turns to address Liz Kendall directly as she urges Labour colleagues to vote against the bill. Kendall meets her gaze.
Image source, House of Commons
Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor
The latest concession touted by the government may mean relief for thousands and win more support for the bill - but it increases the challenge for the public purse.
By waiting for the conclusion to the Timms review before setting out proposals to changing eligibility for Pip, the government is also delaying potential savings to the public purse.
Moreover, its official scorecard keepers, the Office for Budget Responsibility, won’t record any savings until changes are adopted as government policy.
So the latest move underscores that the bulk of the £5bn savings the government hoped to make in the projected growth in welfare spending is now not on the cards.
And that increases expectations the chancellor will be raising taxes come the Autumn Budget, to make her numbers add up.
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Liverpool Wavertree MP Paula Barker dismisses the government’s latest concession, saying that - just like promises on Hillsborough - "if it is not written down it, it is not worth the paper is written on".
She attacks the "incoherent and shambolic nature of this process".
Her point - echoed by other MPs - is that they will not be voting tonight on the latest government concession.
They will be voting on the bill as it stands.
Timms has promised to remove clause 5, so that any changes to Pip will be made after his review has been published at a later stage.
But it seems Barker, for one, does not trust his promise.
Just before Imran Hussain, Labour MP Andy McDonald also questioned the point in voting on a bill that doesn't include the latest concessions.
McDonald says: "We've just heard that a pivotal part of this Bill, clause five, is not going to be effective.
"So I ask the question, what are we supposed to be voting on tonight?
"Is it the Bill as drawn, or another Bill, because I'm confused. I think people in this chamber will need that clarification."
Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes replied: "The vote will be on the Bill as it stands. We've had a very clear undertaking from the dispatch box as to what will happen at committee."
In other words, the latest concessions will be added to the bill at a later stage - after tonight's vote.
Image source, House of CommonsMore now from Imran Hussain (Bradford East) - he says that while austerity under the previous government led to desolation, "we cannot balance the books off the backs of some of the most vulnerable in our society".
"It isn't fair, it isn't right and it's not the Labour thing to do."
The Labour MP is visibly angry, telling the House that while he welcomes the concessions to the bill, the "piecemeal way we've been fed things" is a "mockery" and "the time scale we have been given lacks respect".
He reiterates that tonight's vote does not reflect the latest concessions - i.e. the latest proposals are not being voted on.
He also describes how his constituency suffers from some of the worst inequality and poverty in the country.
"I have to go back and face them," he says.
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Liz Kendall is back is on the front bench again - just in time to hear impassioned calls from Labour’s Imran Hussain for her flagship bill to be pulled altogether.
She is scrolling through her phone as he speaks.
Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent
Speaking in the Commons, Work and Pensions Minister Stephen Timms has confirmed the government has offered a further concession - and that changes to Pip will only be made after his review has concluded.
He tells MPs: “We've heard those concerns and that is why I can announce that we are going to remove clause five from the bill at committee stage, that we will move straight on to the wider review and only make changes to Pip eligibility activity and descriptors following that review.
“The govt is committed to concluding the review by autumn next year," he says.
Chris Mason
Political editor
The government will tell MPs later explicitly that there will be no changes to the eligibility criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip) in November of next year – as originally planned.
Instead, the government will wait for the conclusions of the review led by the Work and Pensions Minister Sir Stephen Timms, which will now also involve disabled people in its compilation.
Only once that review is done and the government has had time to consider it, will ministers then set out their proposals for changing Pip.
This is yet another substantial climbdown - as senior ministers feared the initial U-turn, announced last week, may not be enough to stave off defeat in this evening’s vote.
They will now hope, having addressed the recurring concern of many MPs over the last 24 hours, that they will now get their bill through its second reading later.
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
It’s clear from this debate that Labour rebels were just not buying the Timms review, as it was originally set out by the government.
They have huge respect for Timms and like the idea of reforms being a “co-production” with disabled groups.
But they can’t understand why it was not designed like this from the start.
And they smelled a rat when it was announced that the review would be published after the changes had come into effect.
The suspicion - voiced by a number of Labour MPs, as well as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and other opposition voices - is that the reforms were being rushed through to make Rachel Reeves’ Budget sums add up.
And that the Timms review was a cosmetic exercise that would make no difference - despite government assurances to the contrary.
Will the government’s latest concession be enough to satisfy them?
Labour MP Helen Hayes says she welcomes the "substantial" changes that have been made to the bill.
The commitment to co-produce the Timms review with disabled people is "significant and very welcome," she says.
Hayes says she hopes the government puts this commitment "on the face of the bill" before its third reading, and that it will provide more details on how co-production of the review will be done.
Image source, UK ParliamentBack to the debate that's still taking place in the Commons.
Conservative MP Robbie Moore says the proposed bill "goes against every principle of fairness".
Changes are being pushed through "at the 11th hour", he says. "That is not the kind of detailed policy making we expect from our leaders."
He says the government should "reward effort and promote self reliance" and says he will not be supporting the bill in this evening's vote.
Chris Mason
Political editor
Ministers are to offer a further concession to potential rebels just ahead of voting on the government’s benefits changes.
The Work and Pensions Minister Sir Stephen Timms is expected to tell MPs that the timing of the eligibility changes to the personal independence payment (Pip) will now take account of the findings of the review that Timms is to lead.
MPs have expressed concerns over the last 24 hours that the planned scheduling of the Timms review was too close to the planned changes to Pip eligibility, that are due to come into effect in November of next year - and so its conclusions wouldn’t be able to be acted upon.
The government will seek to reassure MPs that this issue will now be resolved.
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft - who resigned as a government whip to oppose the bill - is speaking now.
She calls for the Timms review to be carried out before the new Pip rules come into effect - something we have heard time and again from the Labour benches today.
If that means pausing the legislation then so be it, she argues.
She says the government’s concessions are welcome but don’t go far enough, suggesting that she will not support the bill in today’s vote
Independent MP Ayoub Khan calls the bill "morally indefensible".
"It is a calculated assault on some of the most marginalised people in our society," he tells the Commons.
He says it continues a pattern of "cuts dressed up as reform... cruelty wrapped in the language of efficiency".
Khan says there has been no meaningful consultation with disabled people, which he calls "offensive".
"If this bill passes, it will be a national disgrace," Khan adds.
More now from Tidball, who during her emotional address says it's with a "heavy, broken heart" that she will be voting against the bill.
She also hits out at the Conservative Party's handling of social security and the Covid pandemic during its previous time in government - and specifically the impact it had on disabled people.
Tidball urges her fellow MPs not to interpret the Tories' plan to vote against the bill "as a mark of solidarity with disabled people".
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons
Image source, UK ParliamentLabour MP Dr Marie Tidball fights back tears as she explains why she cannot support the bill “as one of the few visible physically disabled MPs”.
She says there is an alternative approach if the bill makes it through today’s vote.
Tidball urges the government to ensure the Timms review is a meaningful consultation with disabled people on the impact of the changes.
She also calls for better support to ensure “inclusive” economic growth that doesn’t exclude disabled people.