There is an alternative, Labour MPs tell Rachel Reeves - BBC

Some MPs are calling on the chancellor to raise taxes on the wealthy instead of cutting welfare.

Labour MPs are openly challenging Chancellor Rachel Reeves over planned welfare cuts, urging her to consider wealth taxes as an alternative source of revenue for Britain's strained public finances.

With the Spring Statement looming, backbench pressure is mounting on the Treasury to reconsider proposed benefit reductions that critics say would disproportionately impact disabled people and other vulnerable groups.

"It's all very well for the minister to talk about helping people into work, but is he aware of the many millions of people on PIP who rely on that PIP to work and yet it is the PIP that is going to be slashed as a consequence of the spring statement?" Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, asked during Treasury questions.

Abbott and other MPs are advocating for a 2% tax on wealth over £10 million, which they claim could raise more than £24 billion - significantly more than the £5 billion projected savings from welfare reforms.

Brian Leishman, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, added that the public "don't want cuts, they don't want austerity" following the previous Conservative government but instead support "an annual wealth tax on the very wealthiest in society."

Growing Internal Tensions

The rebellion highlights growing tensions within Labour's ranks, with some MPs increasingly uncomfortable about benefit changes that would tighten eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and reform the work capability assessment for Universal Credit.