Labour MPs and officials briefing against work and pensions secretary should 'shut up', Baroness Harman says

13 March 2025, 18:17 | Updated: 14 March 2025, 05:12

Labour MPs and officials briefing against work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall should "shut up", Harriet Harman has said.

The Labour peer told Beth Rigby on Sky News' Electoral Dysfunction podcast Labour needed to "pull together" rather than descend into infighting.

Ms Kendall said on Thursday she was "determined to fix the broken benefits system" ahead of announcing "radical welfare reforms" next week.

Ministers have been priming Labour MPs and the public for cuts to a ballooning welfare bill since the start of the year.

Asked what she thought of briefings against Ms Kendall as welfare cuts loom, Baroness Harman said: "I hate those sorts of briefings.

"I don't think anybody should be briefing against Labour ministers who are trying to implement the manifesto.

"You know, she is incredibly competent and leads a really dedicated team. So I think they should just shut up and pull together."

More and more Labour MPs have publicly criticised the impending benefit cuts, with many concerned they will hit people with disabilities the most.

Downing Street has taken the unusual step of calling all 404 Labour MPs into Number 10 over Wednesday and Thursday for briefings on the changes ahead of the details being released next week.

Baroness Harman said she thinks Ms Kendall is a "rising star" and is "absolutely certain" the PM and chancellor will stand behind her.

Read more:
What welfare cuts could be announced?
Labour MPs criticise benefit cuts

The peer was social security secretary - the equivalent of Ms Kendall's job now - at the start of Tony Blair's first term after Labour's 1997 landslide win.

She was forced to defend benefit cuts just after they came to power and said there are "lots of parallels between what we were trying to do then, and what the government is trying to do now".

However, she said the difference is, in 1997 she was making the argument for welfare cuts to help single parents into work by herself, but Ms Kendall is being backed by Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer.

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(c) Sky News 2025: Labour MPs and officials briefing against work and pensions secretary should 'shut up', Baroness Harman says