Labour suspends MPs who defied Government in two-child benefit cap vote

Sir Keir Starmer has stripped seven MPs of the Labour whip after they rebelled against the Government by backing a motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, ex-business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Zarah Sultana have been suspended from the parliamentary party.

The PA news agency understands the decision will be reviewed in six months’ time.

The Prime Minister saw off his first Commons rebellion on Tuesday, with the Government comfortably defeating an SNP-led amendment to scrap the cap.

In a post afterwards on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Sultana said: “I have been informed by the Chief Whip & the Labour Party leadership that the whip has been withdrawn from me for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which would lift 330,000 children out of poverty.

“I will always stand up for the most vulnerable in our society.”

Mr Burgon said he was “disappointed” by the decision to suspend him for his vote.

“As an MP in an area where 45% of children live in poverty, one of the highest in the country, I simply believe that this strategy must include scrapping this measure. That’s something that many struggling families in my area have raised with me,” the Leeds East MP said.

Ahead of the vote, Sir Keir had said there is “no silver bullet” to end child poverty but acknowledged the “passion” of MPs who were considering opposing the continuation of the Tory measure.

The decision to remove the whip from those who rebelled is an early show of discipline from the new administration and signals that dissent in votes will not be taken lightly.

More than 40 Labour MPs recorded no vote, with some of those listed spotted in the chamber throughout the day, while others will have had permission to miss the vote.

Other backbenchers have opposed the cap including Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, who said she could not attend Parliament because she had Covid.

Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said she had voted with the Government “for unity” but warned the strength of opposition among many in the party is “undeniable”.

“We moved the dial, the campaign will continue,” she said.

The House of Commons voted 363 to 103, majority 260, to reject the amendment tabled in the name of SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.

The cap, introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.

Mr Flynn said Labour had “failed its first major test in Government” by choosing not to “deliver meaningful change from years of Tory misrule.”

“This is now the Labour government’s two-child cap – and it must take ownership of the damage it is causing, including the appalling levels of poverty in the UK,” he said.