Sir Keir’s Starmer’s premiership is “starting to unravel” as his MPs plot mounting a mega-rebellion over benefits cuts, a former Labour MP has warned.
The Prime Minister is bracing for as many as 170 Labour MPs to defy his orders on July 1, with at least 42 already publicly confirming their intention to revolt.
Starmer's woes were made even worse last night after Government Whip Vicky Foxcroft resigned from the Labour frontbench to vote against £5billion worth of cuts to Britain's benefits bill.
Rosie Duffield, who quit the Labour whip last September over women’s rights, ramped up pressure on the Prime Minister shortly after by urging her former colleagues to fall on the right side of history.
The Canterbury MP said: "Less than a year and it's all starting to really unravel.
"Labour MPs will have to pick a side carefully. Loyalty and only one term as an MP, or principles and a clear conscience."
Since entering No10 after the 2024 General Election, the Prime Minister's support has slumped in the opinion polls.
Despite U-turning on his initial decision to slash Winter Fuel Payments, the latest Find Out Now poll puts Reform UK eight-points ahead of Labour.
READ IN FULL:Keir Starmer hit by frontbench resignation as Labour rebels plot to defeat PM over £5bn benefits cut
Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a visit to the BAE Systems' Govan facility
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Tulip Siddiq, Andrew Gwynne, Louise Haigh and Anneliese Dodds
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And Foxcroft's decision to quit as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury marks the fifth high-profile frontbench resignation in Starmer's first year in No10.
Ex-Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned in November after it emerged that she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence related to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.
Tulip Siddiq, then-City Minister, quit in mid-January over allegations linked to her aunt’s political movement in Bangladesh.
Andrew Gwynne was forced to resign from the Department of Health just a few weeks later after making "vile" comments in a WhatsApp group chat.
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Rosie Duffield has repeatedly clashed with the Labour leadership as a result of her trans stancePA
Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, is storming ahead in the polls
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Anneliese Dodds, who had previously served as Starmer's Shadow Chancellor, later resigned as International Development Minister over the Prime Minister's cuts to the UK's aid budget.
However, Starmer has so far managed to see off mini-rebellions mounted by disgruntled backbench MPs.
A gaggle of seven Labour MPs were stripped of the party whip just weeks after Starmer's landslide victory after backing an SNP amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Despite Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Imran Hussain later having the whip restored, ex-Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Poplar & Limehouse's Apsana Begum and Coventry South's Zarah Sultana remain independent MPs.
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Labour's Lewisham North MP Vicky FoxcroftPA
A copy of Vicky Foxcroft's letter to the Prime MinisterVICKY FOXCROFTIn her resignation letter last night, Foxcroft wrote: "I absolutely understand the need to address the ever-increasing welfare bill in these difficult economic times, but I have always believed this could and should be done by supporting more disabled people into work.
"I do not believe that cuts to personal independence payment (PIP) and the health element of Universal Credit should be part of the solution.
"I have wrestled with whether I should resign or remain in the Government and fight for change from within.
"Sadly, it now seems that we are not going to get the changes I desperately wanted to see.
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Angela Rayner PARLIAMENT
Sir Keir Starmer
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"I therefore tender my resignation as I know I will not be able to do the job that is required of me and whip – or indeed vote – for reforms which include cuts to disabled people’s finances."
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner also refused to rule out punishing Labour MPs who defy Starmer's orders.
Responding to a question from SNP MP Pete Wishart about whether the Prime Minister intended to strip the whip from Labour rebels, Rayner said: “We’re absolutely committed to ending child poverty.
"We’ve already introduced free school meals. We’re already supporting families.
"We’ve given a living wage rise to over millions of workers that need it. We’re getting on the job."
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