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

By Nina Lloyd, Richard Wheeler, Sophie Wingate and Helen Corbett, Reporters23rd July 2024News EnglandChild Poverty, Government / Politics, News England, Poverty / Austerity, Top Stories, Welfare / Benefits, Welfare Reform

The seven Labour MPs who defied the Government by backing an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap have lost the whip.

Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Rebecca Long-Bailey, John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana have been suspended from the parliamentary party for six months, after which their position will be reviewed.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saw off his first Commons rebellion on Tuesday, with the Government comfortably defeating calls to scrap the cap.

But the division list showed seven rebel Labour backbenchers were among those to support the SNP-led amendment.

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Sultana (pictured) said: “I have been informed by the Chief Whip & the Labour Party leadership that the whip has been withdrawn from me for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which would lift 330,000 children out of poverty.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

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

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.

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.