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Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash confirmed he will be challenging 's decision to make major benefit cuts, which will affect vulnerable groups such as the disabled, during this morning's appearance on . He revealed that he intends to vote against the government in a bid to save 50,000 children from poverty, marking the first time ever he has staged a rebellion against the leader.

"I will be very clear- when these cuts were announced, I spoke locally with my party and said I couldn't envisage myself voting for those cuts - and I don't intend to," he declared to a visibly astonished looking TalkTV host. He continued: "Work is absolutely the right place for people to be and I think we have gone through a generation where the benefits bill has sky-rocketed - but cutting support for disabled people doesn't solve that problem. That's just about balancing the books, it's about making the numbers stack up."

He added that his constituents in his home town of Hartlepool had been left "anxious", "scared" and confused about "what the future holds".

"I have spoken to countless people who actually are in work but rely on PIP [Personal Independence Payments] to support them to do it, who are going to lose out under this [new] system," Jonathan stated.

He acknowledged that people staying out of work intentionally remains a "huge problem", but said it would be unfair to penalise those who struggle through no fault of their own.

"Piling on pain to those in desperate need is not a way to solve anything," he exclaimed.

"The impact assessment released by this government said it would push a quarter of a million people into poverty including 50,000 children - I did not get into politics to do that!"

Jonathan urged Starmer to "rethink" and "sincerely hopes" that he will, explaining: "It frustrates me enormously that changing your position is seen as a sign of weakness. It's not - it's a sign of strength.

"Yes, you'll get political commentators who'll scream 'U-Turn' - but who cares? It's about doing the right thing."

in a shock moment, he also confessed that voting to remove Winter Fuel Allowance payments from millions of pensioners is a haunting decision that he still "thinks about most days" too.

"It's a tough one - maybe the threshold was too low [and] maybe I shouldn't have voted for it," he mused.