Sir Keir Starmer says fixing welfare system is a ‘moral imperative’

Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK’s benefits system is broken and fixing it is a “moral imperative”, a day after a backbench Labour revolt saw him forced into a U-turn on welfare cuts.

The prime minister told the Welsh Labour Party conference in Llandudno that the government would not take away the welfare “safety net that vulnerable people rely on”.

But he said he couldn’t let benefits “become a snare for those who can and want to work”.

Despite the government’s concession on its plans to reform welfare, some Labour MPs want further changes, while the Unite union has called for the proposal to be dropped altogether.

Speaking at the conference in north Wales on Saturday,…