More than 120 Labour MPs were planning to defeat the bill by voting against it before last-minute concessions
It is less than a year since Keir Starmer led the Labour party to a historic landslide election victory.
And yet even with a Commons majority of 165, the prime minister looked to be heading for defeat on his government’s welfare bill which includes a major package of cuts to social security payments. That was until a last-minute compromise with his backbenchers, reached after fraught negotiations on Wednesday night and Thursday before the bill is voted on next Tuesday.