Liz Kendall arrives at Downing Street.Liz Kendall has sparked a fresh backlash after doubling down on Labour’s plans to slash disability benefits.The work and pensions secretary said the £5 billion in cuts were “rooted in our enduring values of fairness, equality and opportunity”.Campaign groups said the policy was “cruel and unfair” and urged Kendall to think again.More than 100 Labour MPs are set to rebel against the cuts when they are voted on in the Commons next month.But in a speech on Wednesday, Kendall said the reforms were necessary to make the welfare bill sustainable to and to get more people off benefits and into work.She said: “We are the only economy in the G7 whose employment rate still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, and spending on sickness and disability benefits in most other comparable countries is either stable or falling since the pandemic, yet ours continues to inexorably rise.“There is nothing Labour about accepting the cost of this economic – but above all, social – crisis, paid for in people’s life chances and living standards.”She acknowledged that “welfare reform