has been told disabled people are "frightened" over proposed cuts to benefits during .

The Prime Minister was on the receiving end of an angry MP over plans to Richard Burgon told the PM not to target the "poor and vulnerable" and to instead introduce a tax on the "very wealthiest" people in Britain.

In a powerful moment in the Commons, Mr Burgon told Mr Starmer: “Disabled people in my constituency are frightened. And they are frightened because they are again hearing the language of: ‘Tough choices.’

“And they know from bitter experience that when politicians talk about tough choices, it means the easy option of making the poor and vulnerable pay. So instead of cutting benefits for disabled people, wouldn’t the moral thing to do, the courageous thing to do, be to make a real tough choice and introduce a wealth tax on the very wealthiest people in our society.”

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In response, Mr Starmer said the Tories left behind a "broken welfare system" and said it was "indefensible" millions of people were locked out of work. "Of course we need to support people who need support and we need to help those who want to work to get back into work - and I think there's a moral imperative in that." On a wealth tax, he said the Government had raised money in that area, including with a levy on energy profits, taxing non-doms and air passenger duty on private jets. But he added it wasn't a "bottomless pit and we must kickstart growth".

Mr Starmer is facing a backlash from his own backbenchers as the government seeks to cut £5billion from Personal Independence Payment (PIP) - a benefit that helps people with extra living and mobility costs linked to their disability. A leak of the plans suggests ministers are planning to make it harder for people to qualify for the payments which charities have already warned would be "catastrophic". There are also suggestions payments could be frozen next year so it does not increase in line with inflation.

In rare public criticism of the Labour government, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Paul Nowak warned: “A major lesson from the Tory years is that austerity damaged the nation’s health. We must not make the same mistake again. Pushing disabled people into hardship with cuts to support will only make the current challenges worse – and will not win public support."

Earlier this week warned Labour MPs the government could not "shrug our shoulders and look away" from problems in the welfare system. The PM said he was "not afraid to take the big decisions" to "fix what is broken" as he addressed a meeting of the Parliamentary on Monday evening.

He is also expected to invite Labour MPs into No10 to discuss the plans in the coming days as public criticism mounts. The Labour MP Nadia Whittome told the on Wednesday: "It was wrong when cut welfare. It would be wrong for us to do that now.

"It is not disabled people who crashed the economy or who were responsible for low wages or rising rents or falling living standards - we must not scapegoat them for the failures and political choices of Conservative governments."

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