Sir Keir Starmer will use a speech backing the Budget to signal a fresh push on welfare reform, as a row simmers on about whether Rachel Reeves misled the public over the state of the public finances.

The Prime Minister will say an overhaul of the welfare system is needed after he was forced to abandon cuts planned earlier this year in the face of a major backbench rebellion.

“We have to confront the reality that our welfare state is trapping people, not just in poverty, but out of work,” the Labour leader will say on Monday, arguing reforms are not aimed at making him “look somehow politically ‘tough’”, but at reversing low productivity.

His summer U-turn saw changes to personal independence payment (Pip) eligibility stripped out of the Government’s welfare legislation, amid warnings f

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