Victoria Derbyshire in furious Newsnight clash with Labour politician: ‘Shame on them!’

turned fiery on Monday night when Victoria Derbyshire was joined by Labour politician Shami Chakrabarti. The House of Lords member hit out at the Government’s planned cuts to welfare, which is expected to be confirmed today (March 18).

Ms Chakrabarti said on the show: “Well I’ve listened to all sorts of people saying ‘read the Green Paper and don’t just respond to speculation in the media’. Where did the speculation come from? It wasn’t invented by you (Victoria) or other journalists. There was leaking, briefing and spinning for weeks.”

Victoria interrupted to ask whether this has “done damage”, to which Ms Chakrabarti fumed: “Of course it has! Whatever the outcome, shame on those people playing politics, those spin doctors and special advisors who’ve been playing this game at the expense of people’s mental health.”

The host then pointed out that “those people” include figures from Ms Chakrabarti’s own government. The politician held her hands up and stuttered: “Well, some people in the government who speak for ministers and then brief their primaries to come out and say ‘don’t respond to speculation’.

“This little Westminster game of leaking and briefing, look at the potential costs, including mental health costs.”

Victoria pressed Ms Chakrabarti on whether the cuts are the right thing to do, she replied: “It is not a Labour thing to do, it’s not even a human thing to do to cut from people who are in trouble. You never improve anyone’s mental health by pushing them into poverty.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to confirm cuts to welfare and outline plans to get more people back to work. Downing Street has said there is a “moral and an economic case” for an overhaul and that the changes would put the welfare system “back on a more sustainable path”.

There have been reports that the changes .

But there has been mounting unease on the Labour Party’s backbenches ahead of the anticipated changes, including over potential changes to the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability benefit.

Reports suggest has prompted a rethink of rumoured plans to freeze the level of PIP rather than increase it in line with inflation, delivering a real-terms cut to 3.6 million claimants.

Ms Kendall sought to reassure MPs on Monday that the reforms would ensure “trust and fairness” in the social security system and make sure benefits are available “for people who need it now, and for years to come”.

Ministers insist that reform is necessary, given the number of people in England and Wales claiming either sickness or disability benefit has soared from 2.8 million to about four million since 2019.

Number 10 has denied that the plans are purely as a result of the UK’s difficult fiscal situation.