Cabinet minister insists Keir Starmer will lead Labour into next election after welfare row prompts fresh questions over his future

A cabinet minister has rallied to the defence of Keir Starmer ahead of a crunch vote on his welfare reforms widely seen as a test of his authority.

Bridget Phillipson insisted the prime minister would lead her party into the next general election, amid growing questions over his future.

In an interview with The Independent days before Labour marks its first year in power, the education secretary also said government had its “ups and downs” and suggested better times were ahead.

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Her comments follow a difficult week for Sir Keir in which a rebellion over benefits cuts and a series of confessions in newspaper interviews has sparked fresh questions over his leadership.

Ms Phillipson said Labour had achieved much in its first year in power “but it does take time for some of that to be fully felt,” she said, because “government can have its ups and downs”.

“What you will see in the months and years to come is delivery from this government,” she pledged.

She also backed the welfare cuts saying that, after a climbdown by the PM last week, the new package “does take account of the concerns” MPs have raised and that reform was critical as “too many” were being written off or not given the support they need to get into work.

Asked if Sir Keir would be the Labour leader at the time of the next general election, after a week of growing questions over his future, she said: “Yes”.

Growing number of Labour MPs warn the PM could be ousted next summer after elections in which the party is expected to lose power in Wales, fail to win power in Scotland – despite the SNP’s current woes – and struggle in local elections against Nigel Farage’s surging Reform UK party.

Last week a senior Labour backbencher told The Independent the welfare rebellion ended in only one of two ways – the first of which was “we sack him [Starmer]”. The other was that he fires his chancellor Rachel Reeves.

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On Sunday the health secretary Wes Streeting, tipped as a potential successor to Sir Keir, did not rule out wanting the top job but dismissed the suggestion as “mischief making”.

Last month Sir Keir was forced to say he would lead Labour into the next election after initially dodging the question.

Ms Phillipson said Labour had “achieved an awful lot in a short space of time” in its first year in power “not least given the terrible mess that was left behind in terms of the public finances and public services on their knees”.

She cited 750 new free breakfast clubs, the increase in the minimum wage, expanding the eligibility of free school meals and a massive expansion of childcare hours, which she said were “all big changes that will make a tremendous difference”.

“But it does take time for some time for some of that to be fully felt. And you know, government can have its ups and downs,” she added.

“But all of the changes that we’re delivering right now around children and their life chances and support for families would not be happening with a Conservative or a Reform government.”

She said ministers were focused on delivering the change that people voted for at last summer’s general election, which Labour won by a landslide. “I know people want to see it in their lives and their communities, on their streets, in their families, and what you’ll see in the months and years to come is delivery from this government”.

On the welfare cuts she said: “I believe the package that’s being set out is balanced and does take account of the concerns that colleagues have raised, but it is critical that we reform the system, because we’ve ended up with too many young people being written off without the support that they need to be in employment or educational training, and too many people with who want to work not getting support that they need.”

At the weekend the polling guru Sir John Curtice said Sir Keir had had “the worst start for any newly elected prime minister, Labour or Conservative”, after the Labour leader admitted to a series of regrets in his first year in office. Sir John said that voters “still don’t know what (Starmer) stands for”, and that he “must paint a picture of the country he wants to create”.

Sir Keir had earlier told The Sunday Times that a focus on international affairs meant he had not appreciated the feeling of MPs over welfare reforms until last week.

He also said that he regretted using the term “island of strangers” in a speech this year on immigration. His comments hit the headlines after they were likened to claims by Enoch Powell that the UK’s white population would find themselves “strangers in their own land” if immigration were not restricted.