PM Keir Starmer has shown his ruthless side less than three weeks into the job.Keir Starmer suspended a handful of MPs from the Labour parliamentary party on Tuesday over a vote in the Commons, less than a month into his premiership.
Last night, MPs were asked to vote on an amendment to the King’s Speech from the SNP – Scottish National Party – which called on the government to scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap.
This policy, which prevents parents from claiming benefits for their third child, dates back to the 2017 Conservative government, but Labour are reluctant to drop it over the costs it will bring.
So Starmer has suspended Zarah Sultana, Richard Burgon, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum, ex-business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey and Ian Byrne for six months.
The suspension will be reviewed after that period.
After her rebellion, Sultana told the Commons that “I will always stand up for the most vulnerable in society”.
She later told the Today programme she was not aware she would be suspended for voting for the amendment.
The backbencher action came after former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now stands as an independent, told Labour MPs to “stick to your principles, stand up for what you know is right”.
Former Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbottwrote on X: “Personal reasons meant I could not be in Westminster this evening to vote against the two child benefit cap.
“But [I’m] horrified colleagues suspended for six months for voting against, when removing the cap is supposed to be party policy.”
Starmer has faced pressure from across the House over this policy, with Tory MP and former home secretary Suella Braverman and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage calling for it to be dropped.
The Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, Plaid Cymru, the SDLP, the Alliance Party and independent MPs all backed the amendment, too.
The charity Action for Children has also described the cap as “cruel” – it currently impacts 1.6 million children.
Despite the rebellion, it was a night of success for Starmer as he won the first official vote of his leadership with 363 votes to 103, giving him a majority of 260.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said yesterday that the government has to do “the sums” before committing to dropping the benefits limit.
Similarly, chancellor Rachel Reeves warned at the weekend that lifting the cap would cost more than £3billion a year.
She said the government cannot act until they know “where the money’s going to come from”.
The education secretary Bridget Phillipson then sparked confusion when she said Labour would “consider” dropping the policy in the future.
Starmer himself said in 2023 that the cap should be scrapped but changed his mind after reviewing the UK’s economic struggles.
