Seven Labour MPs who defied Sir Keir Starmer to vote in favour of scrapping the two-child cap on welfare have had the party whip suspended for six months.
The motion to immediately scrap the two child limit was rejected by 103 votes to 363. Slow handclapping could be heard in the chamber after the result was announced.
The seven Labour MPs included the former shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and Sir Keir’s former leadership rival Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, and Zarah Sultana were also suspended. They will now sit as independents for six months, after which there will be a review.
In a post Ms Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, said: “I have been informed by the Chief Whip & the Labour Party leadership that the whip has been withdrawn from me for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which would lift 330,000 children out of poverty.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.”
The cap, introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, restricts universal credit or child tax credit the first two children born to most families. The Resolution Foundation has estimated removing the cap would cost £2.5bn a year.
The Labour government has faced calls to scrap the measure, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will not make unfunded spending commitments.
This week, Sir Keir indicated that ministers would consider ditching the cap “as one of a number of levers” to reduce child poverty.
He also acknowledged the “passion” of Labour MPs who were considering rebelling over the continuation of the Tory measure.
Sir Keir swerved a broader rebellion after an amendment put forward by Labour MP Kim Johnson, which called on the
Government to commit to scrapping the two-child limit, was not selected by Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.
She said during the debate that the “punitive policy needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs”.
One MP said the threat of a wider revolt had “forced the government to look at” scrapping the cap sooner and rebels would now focus on getting it removed at the budget later in the year.
“I’d rather work constructively with the government now and hope the taskforce forms part of the budget,” they added.
Another said Ms Johnson, who represents Liverpool Riverside, had “thrown down the gauntlet” to the government.
But move to suspend the seven MPs risks igniting a fresh row with the left. All were members of the anti-Starmer Socialist Campaign Group.
Earlier in the day, the SNP’s Westminster leader had urged Labour backbenchers to “vote with their conscience”.
It was supported by Plaid Cymru, the Greens and other MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who sits as an Independent.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said after the vote: “Tonight, the Labour Party has failed its first major test in government.
“Labour MPs had the opportunity to deliver meaningful change from years of Tory misrule by immediately lifting thousands of children out of poverty – they have made a political choice not to do so.”
Labour response to rebels shows No 10 won’t tolerate dissent
After his stunning general election victory, Keir Starmer walked into Downing Street as the first Labour Prime Minister in 14 years.
With a stonking 174-seat majority, he no doubt felt relieved the knife edge votes which dogged predecessors like Theresa May were not likely to be a problem.
But just days later, seven Labour MPs have defied him and voted for an SNP bid to scrap the two-child cap on benefits – an amendment to his first King’s Speech, no less.
The newly-empowered premier, who Cabinet colleague Lisa Nandy once lightheartedly referred to as “Mr Rules”, could have taken the same approach as Tony Blair did after his landslide 1997, which was to effectively ignore mini-rebellions as they were no threat to his authority.
Instead, Chief Whip Sir Alan Campbell has suspended all seven, for six months, sending the clearest signal possible that Starmer’s Downing Street has no tolerance for dissent.
The rebels include his former leadership rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and, significantly, John McDonnell, a key operator on Labour’s left.
Many ministers will feel this is a justified course of action. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall clearly made to quell internal disquiet by launching a special taskforce on tackle child poverty, which had ballooned under the Conservatives.
Even MPs on the precipice of rebelling confessed to “get it” when whips warned them rebelling on Starmer’s first programme for government would not end well.
All those out forced out into the cold, at least for now, are members of the anti-Starmer Socialist Campaign Group.
But opposition for the two-child cap goes deep and is felt across all wings of the Labour Party – and beyond into wider society.
Stella Creasy, Rosie Duffield, Helen Hayes and Meg Hillier – MPs largely in tune with No 10 – have all spoken out against it. Duffield, who kept her counsel for this vote but is no shriking violet, has described the cap as “social cleansing” and “anti-feminist”.
Gordon Brown has called for the limit to end, as have numerous think tanks, economists and pro-family conservatives. In fact, even the Archbishop of Canterbury has branded it “neither moral nor necessary”.
So, while this show of strength is probably aimed at those determined to disobey him, Downing Street will be keenly aware that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget – incidentally, likely to be within six months – will need to have some answers.
By Rachel Wearmouth.