Keir Starmer was asked “what was the point” of replacing the Tories with Labour after the government announced it was cutting £5 billion from the welfare bill.

SDLP MP Colum Eastwood angrily challenged the prime minister at PMQs over a disabled woman set to lose all of her benefits as a result.

He said: “A lady came to see me recently who needed help. She had a disability. It meant that her children have to help her cut up her food, they have to help her wash beneath the waist, they have to supervise her as she goes to the toilet.

“Under the Tory welfare system, we were able to get that lady on PIP [personal independence payments]. Under the prime minister’s new proposed system, she will get zero – nothing.

“After 14 years of the Tory government - and many of us wanting to see the back of them - can the prime minister answer one question? What was the point, if Labour are going to do this?”

The PM said he had personal experience of the challenges facing disabled people, but insisted doing nothing was not an option.

He said: “I’ve lived with the impact of disability in my family through my mother and brother all my life. I do understand the human impact of this.

“But the current system is morally and economically indefensible, and we’re right to reform it. And nobody should be defending the broken status quo.

“We are proceeding on three principles: that if you can work, you should work; if you need help into work, the state should help you not hinder you; and, if you can never work, you must be supported and protected.”