First Minister John Swinney has accused the UK government of taking an "absolutely appalling" approach to welfare reform. MPs have backed changes to the social security system, but only after Labour ministers made major concessions to rebels that removed the bulk of the proposals for reforming disability benefits.

By Andrew MacAskill, Elizabeth Piper and Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer won a vote on his welfare plans on Tuesday but it came with a significant political cost as he suffered the biggest parliamentary rebellion of his premiership and backed down on key elements of the package to secure the bill's passage.

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted welfare reform is still on the table as he took the blame for Tuesday’s U-turn in the face of a major backbench rebellion. In an interview with the BBC, the Prime Minister acknowledged his Government did not “get the process right” and failed to “engage in the way that we should have done” on welfare changes.