Last week in Parliament, I voted against the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill. I was the first Labour MP to state publicly that I would oppose the proposed cuts to sickness and disability benefits - not because I enjoy rebelling, but because I believe it is wrong to ask the sick and disabled to pay the price of economic failure.

The Government failed to make a convincing case for the cuts proposed in the Bill. It did not publish an assessment of how these cuts would affect disabled people - a glaring omission for legislation of such importance to millions of people. The overwhelming findings of research by third parties found that the proposed changes would throw hundreds of thousands into poverty.

Ministers claimed the reforms would help people into work, but in communities like ours in Normanton and Hemsworth, there are already two people chasing every job vacancy. Cutting benefits won’t create jobs, and it won’t solve poverty. It simply didn’t make sense. It became quite clear from the start that this was really about the government saving money.

In response to a growing rebellion among Labour MPs, the Government made a number of last-minute concessions, promising that disabled people’s benefits would no longer be targeted. While this was a victory for those of us who raised our voices, I still could not support the Bill. The last-minute changes were so significant that the legislation no longer seemed to have a coherent purpose. It became clear to me that this was a muddled, confused Bill - not fit to be passed into law.

Let me be absolutely clear: I will never vote to take money away from those who are sick or disabled. Never again should a Labour government propose policies that punish the poorest while the richest continue to accumulate obscene levels of wealth.

But now, we are hearing that the Government may not pursue new anti-poverty spending because of the cost of dropping the proposed benefit cuts. That is a shameful argument. The choice we face is not between hurting the disabled or helping poor children - the real choice is whether we build an economy that works for everyone, or continue to protect the wealth of a privileged few.

There is no shortage of money in our society but there is a shortage of political will to tax fairly and invest wisely. Our economy remains stagnant. What we need is a bold, forward-looking plan for public investment, based on the principles of social justice, focused on creating good jobs and supporting growth in socially useful and climate friendly industries.

The richest must pay their fair share. That’s how we build a country that works for all. A Labour government should never force those with the least to shoulder the burden of economic failure.

The Labour government must now show whose side it is on. If we forget the struggles of ordinary people - the sick, the disabled, the working poor - we will lose their trust. And rightly so.

If this Labour government is to last beyond the next election, it must demonstrate that we are a party of fairness, compassion, and hope. For what else is a Labour government for?