Sir Stephen Timms, the Labour disability minister leading a review of Britain's benefits system, has been criticised after saying the current level of welfare spending is "not a great concern". The remark, made in a BBC interview, matters because it comes as the disability benefits bill has climbed sharply and as the minister is charged with reforming a system many regard as unsustainable, prompting opponents to accuse the government of being in denial about the scale of the problem.

Timms said his concern would be if spending "carried on going up forever more", a situation he pledged to address, but he declined to commit to cutting the number of people claiming personal independence payments (PIP). Britain's disability benefits bill has nearly doubled since 2019 and is forecast to exceed £41 billion by 2030, while PIP claimant numbers have passed four million for the first time this year. His partially published review made no mention of how savings would be achieved, though he later told the Commons that rising PIP costs were "a concern"; shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said his comments proved "how in denial Labour are".