89 percent rise in North East PIP claimants as MPs prepare to vote on welfare bill
Ministers say the cuts will save billions of pounds
We are hearing there has been an 89 percent increase over the last six years of people in the North East claiming personal independence payments.
More than 240,000 people were in receipt of Pip in April this year compared to January 2019, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance.
It comes as MPs are preparing to vote on welfare reforms later.
We asked these people in Durham whether they trust the Prime Minister to 'get right' any changes to the bill.
This woman said: "I don't have a lot of confidence to be honest from what I've seen lately, working in the NHS I don't think for a minute that he's going to get it right.
This man said: "Definitely not because he's not good at anything he does basically.
Another man said: "Absolutely not. They haven't got a clue. Whenever Government comes in, they just always blame the previous one. They're still blaming the previous Government and it's been nearly a year. They just like to be like 'oh, it's the Tories.' But they're just useless at their jobs."
Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, said: "I'd say to our colleagues on the frontbench, please take stock and pause. Work with us and work with the disability charities and disabled people to co-commission a better system, because we all want a better system but this isn't it and we need to just to reflect upon that right now and not take this step.
"If they were to suffer these cuts that would be absolutely devastating for them and their families because not only do they lose their benefits, they lose everything that goes with it; passport benefits, carers would lose their entitlement to carers' allowance and that would devastate the local economy.
"Everybody's accepting that the current system of welfare benefits needs reform. It's flawed, so the ambitions to help people into work are ones that we all support and the right for people to say 'look, I'm going to give this a try' and not lose their entitlement is also very good, but none of that is in the bill."
We asked Andy how long the Government should take to get it right: "As long as it sensibly takes to take proper stock and examine these grave concerns that people have because at the moment, we're all just accepting that it's going to be increasing poverty. It's just the scale of the increase that we're talking about and that can't be right."
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced last week that changes to Pip will only apply to new claimants from November 2026, and ministers also rowed back on plans to cut the health-related element of Universal Credit after 126 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have effectively killed the Government's Bill.
The changes will reduce the amount of money the reforms will save, adding to Chancellor Rachel Reeves' headaches as she seeks to balance the books for day-to-day spending.
A No. 10 spokesman said: "The broken welfare system we inherited is failing people every single day.
"It traps millions, it tells them the only way to get help is to declare they'll never work again and then abandons them.
"No help, no opportunity, no dignity and we can't accept that.
"For too long, meaningful reform to a failing system has been ducked."
The No 10 spokesman said the poverty modelling was "subject to uncertainty" and showed "the effect of these measures on poverty in isolation in 2029-30, it doesn't reflect the full picture".
He added: "You have to look at the record levels of investment in the health and care system, £29 billion more day-to-day funding in real terms, than in 2023-24, to help people get the treatment they need on time to return to work."
An additional £1 billion a year by the end of the decade to help people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into jobs "will directly help people move into work and become financially independent".