It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Labour whips suspend seven MPs for voting against child poverty
JULY 24, 2024
Seven Labour MPs have been suspended from the parliamentary Party after voting against the government on a motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP, said ahead of the vote: “I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party.”
He was joined in the rebellion by Apsana Begum MP, Richard Burgon MP, Ian Byrne MP, Imran Hussain MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP and Zarah Sultana MP. 42 other Labour MPs abstained.
“Though the majority of Labour MPs who had been pushing for scrapping the cap were on the left of the party, there is support across the party,” reported the Guardian. “Rosie Duffield, the Canterbury MP, said she would have rebelled to vote for the SNP amendment but was prevented from doing so because she had tested positive for Covid.”
Diane Abbott MP also missed the vote on account of personal reasons, but tweeted that she was “horrified” that colleagues were suspended for six months for voting for what was supposed to be Party policy.
Given the huge majority the government has, the suspension of members for a rebellion on an issue so widely supported is both authoritarian and factional – especially as members of the Cabinet have suggested the government should be open to the idea of scrapping the cap.
Momentum said the suspension was outrageous, tweeting: “Removing the Party whip from Labour MPs for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap is not only an insult to the 4 million children living in poverty, but also an affront to democracy.”
Ahead of the vote, Zarah Sultana MP said: “If the Labour Party has a moral mission, it must be to eradicate child poverty. I join the 11 unions affiliated to the Labour Party and the TUC, which represents six million workers, in calling for the two-child benefit cap to be immediately scrapped. I will vote for it today.”
NEC member Jess Barnard called the suspension of the Labour MPs “an utter disgrace”. Another NEC member, Mish Rahman, called it “complete control-freakery and authoritarianism.”
TUC president and Fire Brigades Union General Secretary Matt Wrack said: “The seven MPs who voted to scrap the cap spoke for millions of trade union members and many Labour Party members. Keir Starmer must restore the whip to them immediately.”
As Politics Professor Philip Crowley pointed out, removing the Party whip from rebel MPs used to be considered a “nuclear option”. He called this suspension both “unprecedented” and “heavy-handed”, saying it completely “changed the rules of engagement”. He added: “It guarantees that the next rebellion will be big – big enough that you can’t suspend them because there will be too many.”
Mirror journalist Ros Wynne-Jones tweeted: “This is terribly wrong. What happened to ‘understanding the passion’ Labour MPs feel on this issue? Eradicating poverty is not a weird macho ‘virility’ test, it must be the mission of this government.”
A total of 103 MPs voted for the amendment which was comfortably defeated by the government majority.
But the government response will prove unpopular. Public opinion is supportive of ending the two-child cap and there is a strong economic case for doing so. Former Labour MP Alan Simpson tweeted that scrapping the cap was “right in principle and affordable in practice. These 400,000 children aren’t in households who bank offshore. The money to feed them will be spent in local shops, and provide local jobs that pay UK taxes. The money-go-round pays the country back as it feeds the kids.”
The campaign to scrap the cap will intensify – as will the demand to restore the whip to these seven committed MPs who put principle before expediency.
Two-child cap: ‘Why Starmer punished MPs who voted to tackle child poverty’
Tom Belger 24th July, 2024
Keir Starmer Leader of the Labour Party makes his speech at Progressive Britain one day conference in London today
:
Few people in Labour will have enjoyed the spectacle of the party whipping its MPs to vote down a plan to lift children out of poverty last night.
Whichever way individual MPs voted – or did not vote – on scrapping the two-child benefit cap, tackling poverty will be high up on the causes that got many into politics in the first place.
Socialist Campaign Group co-chair Zarah Sultana told GMB this morning she “slept well” having backed the SNP’s amendment – despite being one of seven MPs whose defiance lost them the Labour whip. The cabinet itself has been dubbed “the most working-class of all time”, and probably would have slept better too if they’d felt able to immediately scrap a controversial Tory policy.
There is fresh anger on the left, with FBU general secretary Matt Wrack saying today rebels “spoke for” many in the labour movement and they deserve the whip back. National executive committee member Mish Rahman called it “shameful” and “control freakery”.
But there were plenty of reasons the leadership hasn’t just kept the cap for now, but brutally punished rebels – and plenty of reasons 361 MPs toed the line.
First, the leadership saw voter trust in a clear, fully-costed programme, strict fiscal rules and minimal tax-raising plans as foundational to Labour’s election bid. Even Jeremy Corbyn at least partially attempted something similar.
The aim was tackling public and market fears about Labour threatening the public finances through excessive tax, spending or borrowing – which proved fatal for the last three Labour leaders.
Sam White, Starmer’s former chief of staff and a former Alistair Darling adviser, told me how unlikely it ever was that “in the first test of whether she’s a serious Chancellor, Rachel Reeves was going to pull off her mask Mission Impossible-style and reveal she was in fact Liz Truss, pretending there’s money when there isn’t.”
He is optimistic Labour will address child poverty, but noted the “vast backlog” of issues Labour faces too – from crumbling schools to public sector pay to scandal compensation. Yet Reeves has a poor fiscal inheritance, meaning growth is vital for raising funds to “work through problems as resources allow”.
Even Nye Bevan said socialism is “the language of priorities”. Starmer will face similar demands over countless important causes this parliament, and even a Corbyn government wouldn’t have felt able to fund them all.
Nor would Corbyn have wanted to look weak to voters – or pliable to MPs – by caving immediately on his own King’s Speech, particularly at the whims of the SNP rather than a fiscal event. One senior source told Sky News “we expect Labour MPs to support the programme we were elected on”.
Punishing the rebels sends a loud signal not just to the left but to his many new MPs and the public that Starmer’s “changed” party and ruthless streak weren’t just for show in opposition. Aides may have calculated the move also spares Starmer continual media coverage of further potential defiance by these seven MPs at least.
As a whipping operation, the fear factor plus the carrot of a child poverty review has largely worked. Note a fair few SCG members did not rebel, including even Kim Johnson, who had filed her own two-child cap amendment.
The six-month whip restoration review might be aimed at keeping now-independent MPs more optimistic about returning and thus on side than they might have been otherwise, given other recent suspensions have been much longer.
But the big question is how far it has deepened many MPs’ unease over the policy, particularly if Labour gives in later on, as it partly did on Gaza. Many, particularly new, MPs would have backed the government’s programme in their first crunch votes without a stick over their head.
Sky News’ Sam Coates notes too that if Labour only scrapes to victory in 2029, and the sidelined SCG became kingmakers on knife-edge votes, votes like last night won’t be forgotten.
“The campaign to scrap the cap will intensify – as will the demand to restore the whip to these seven.”
By Mike Phipps
Seven Labour MPs have been suspended from the parliamentary Party after voting against the government on a motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP, said ahead of the vote: “I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments, but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example, as he said, to put country before party.”
He was joined in the rebellion by Apsana Begum MP, Richard Burgon MP, Ian Byrne MP, Imran Hussain MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP and Zarah Sultana MP. 42 other Labour MPs abstained.
“Though the majority of Labour MPs who had been pushing for scrapping the cap were on the left of the party, there is support across the party,” reported the Guardian. “Rosie Duffield, the Canterbury MP, said she would have rebelled to vote for the SNP amendment but was prevented from doing so because she had tested positive for Covid.”
Diane Abbott MP also missed the vote on account of personal reasons, but tweeted that she was “horrified” that colleagues were suspended for six months for voting for what was supposed to be Party policy.
Given the huge majority the government has, the suspension of members for a rebellion on an issue so widely supported is both authoritarian and factional – especially as members of the Cabinet have suggested the government should be open to the idea of scrapping the cap.
Momentum said the suspension was outrageous, tweeting: “Removing the Party whip from Labour MPs for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap is not only an insult to the 4 million children living in poverty, but also an affront to democracy.”
Ahead of the vote, Zarah Sultana MP said: “If the Labour Party has a moral mission, it must be to eradicate child poverty. I join the 11 unions affiliated to the Labour Party and the TUC, which represents six million workers, in calling for the two-child benefit cap to be immediately scrapped. I will vote for it today.”
NEC member Jess Barnard called the suspension of the Labour MPs “an utter disgrace”. Another NEC member, Mish Rahman, called it “complete control-freakery and authoritarianism.”
TUC president and Fire Brigades Union General Secretary Matt Wrack said: “The seven MPs who voted to scrap the cap spoke for millions of trade union members and many Labour Party members. Keir Starmer must restore the whip to them immediately.”
As Politics Professor Philip Crowley pointed out, removing the Party whip from rebel MPs used to be considered a “nuclear option”. He called this suspension both “unprecedented” and “heavy-handed”, saying it completely “changed the rules of engagement”. He added: “It guarantees that the next rebellion will be big – big enough that you can’t suspend them because there will be too many.”
Mirror journalist Ros Wynne-Jones tweeted: “This is terribly wrong. What happened to ‘understanding the passion’ Labour MPs feel on this issue? Eradicating poverty is not a weird macho ‘virility’ test, it must be the mission of this government.”
A total of 103 MPs voted for the amendment which was comfortably defeated by the government majority.
But the government response will prove unpopular. Public opinion is supportive of ending the two-child cap and there is a strong economic case for doing so. Former Labour MP Alan Simpson tweeted that scrapping the cap was “right in principle and affordable in practice. These 400,000 children aren’t in households who bank offshore. The money to feed them will be spent in local shops, and provide local jobs that pay UK taxes. The money-go-round pays the country back as it feeds the kids.”
The campaign to scrap the cap will intensify – as will the demand to restore the whip to these seven committed MPs who put principle before expediency.
You can add your signature in support of John McDonnell, Rebecca Long Bailey, Zarah Sultana, Richard Burgon, Apsana Begum, Ian Byrne and Imran Hussain here.
Thousands back the seven MPs who voted to tackle child poverty, as backlash grows against Starmer’s whip suspension move, reports the Labour Assembly Against Austerity.
In less than an hour, a grassroots petition calling on Keir Starmer to restore the Parliamentary Labour Party whip to seven MPs suspended for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap gained over 1,000 supporters, and continues to grow.
The petition to Sir Keir reads as follows: “We oppose your decision to suspend seven MPs from the Labour Whip for voting for scrapping the two-child benefit cap – a move which would immediately lift 300,000 children out of poverty. This shameful decision must be reversed.”
Welcoming the petition and its initial support, former MP Beth Winter said, “Labour was elected on a commitment to reduce child poverty. That’s how Labour MPs should vote. Support the campaign for their reinstatement.”
She was joined by PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote who said, “Labour MPs should not be disciplined for fighting child poverty. Sign the petition to restore the whip.”
Labour Lord John Hendy KC meanwhile condemned the move to remove the whip from the MPs, saying, “No one should be penalised by a Labour government for voting to save hundreds of thousands of our children from poverty.“
Adding another trade union voice in support of the seven MPs and the campaign, BFAWU General Secretary Sarah Woolley said, “It’s disgraceful less than three weeks after telling the world ‘country before Party’ that seven MPs have been suspended for taking that stance. We stand in solidarity with Apsana, Richard, Becky, John, Zarah, Imran and Ian and demand they have the whip reinstated.”
Neil Findlay, former Labour MSP and former Shadow Minister for Campaigns and Party Engagement in Scotland, added, “Keir Starmer said it would be ‘country before Party’ . Last night seven Labour MPs were suspended for putting ending child poverty before Party – they should have the whip restored today.”
Labour NEC member Jess Barnard gave her strong backing to the initiative, saying “Solidarity with the seven, who stood up for kids condemned to poverty – a principled stance taken by Labour MPs who were elected to stand up for their communities, who pledged to put ending child poverty at the top of the agenda. This is designed to punish principles and scare new MPs into submission, while poor kids pay the highest price for it – please give this petition your full support.”
Fellow Labour NEC member Gemma Bolton added, “The initial support for this petition illustrates the anger in our movement that these seven MPs have been suspended for standing up for their constituents, and calling for measures to tackle child poverty. Keir Starmer and co. still seem more obsessed with bashing the left than changing the country.”
Other figures to have spoken out in support of the seven MPs on broadcast and social media include Diane Abbott MP, Labour NEC member Mish Rahman, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch and FBU General Secretary/TUC President Matt Wrack.
Zarah Sultana also received support from her local Labour Club. Ollie Chapman, Warwick Labour Students, said, “Warwick Labour Students fully supports Zarah Sultana’s decision to vote to scrap the two-child benefit cap and we condemn the suspension of her and the six other Labour MPs. Zarah is an inspiration to young people within and outside the Labour Party, and stands on the right side of history.”
Local to another MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey, who had the whip withdrawn, Fraser McGuire, co-chair Manchester Labour Students said: “I’m incredibly disappointed to see Rebecca and six other MPs suspended for daring to stand up and demand better from the leadership, and speaking to students and young people I know that many feel the same. Labour ran on a promise of ‘change’ and that is what many people voted for, yet the Party has fallen at the first hurdle. Starmer should scrap the two-child benefit cap and return the whip to those who rebelled.”
The petition was initiated by the Labour Assembly Against Austerity and Arise. Commenting on behalf of the two organisations, Matt Willgress said “These seven MPs were right to support a measure that would lift 300,000 children out of poverty – and would be a great start to undoing the social emergency caused by 14 years of failed Tory austerity.”
He added,“The immediate support for the petition shows the anger there is across the movement at Keir Starmer’s anti-democratic move. Now we need to build this campaign everywhere, including by reaching 5,000 supporters as soon as possible.”
“We’re the 6th richest country in the world. We shouldn’t stand by & allow our children to be suffering in this way.”
John McDonnell MP this morning issued a video explaining why he would vote for an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the 2-child benefit cap. We reproduce the transcript in full below.
“Today in Parliament is the last day of the debate on the King’s speech and the normal procedure is that there’ll be a number of amendments that are put up and will be voted upon.
The first will be a Conservative amendment, a general carping amendment about the incoming Labour government.
The second will be a Lib. Dem. amendment, which is quite a broad, sweeping amendment, and the third is an amendment from the Scottish National Party specifically calling for the scrapping of the two-child limit on benefits. 37 Labour MP’s like me put forward our own amendment to scrap the two-child limit, but that won’t be called.
So the only opportunity we’ll have to vote on the two-child limit will be on an SNP motion. I have some history on this measure. I was in Parliament in 2015 when it was introduced and I condemned it and voted against it then. It’s really iniquitous. It’s forced large numbers of children into poverty and caused real hardship.
So I believe we should get rid of it at the first opportunity. And that’s why I’ll be voting for the SNP amendment. I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments, but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example, as he said, put country before party. So I’m putting lifting children out of poverty before party whipping or anything like that.
120 different organisations have called for the scrapping of the two-child limit and they comprise community groups, religious groups, churches, trade unions and, many in my own community. I think it’s a dreadful measure that the Conservatives introduced and we could lift – the latest estimate is – anything up to nearly 400,000 children out of poverty just by this one measure?
That’s why I think it’s important to vote for it today. The Government has set up a poverty task force, which is terrific, that will get to work now, and I’m hoping that it will address the scrapping of the two-child limit. But we need an absolute commitment on that and a timetable to do that rapidly so that our children no longer suffer this hardship and poverty.
We’re the 6th richest country in the world. We shouldn’t stand by and allow our children to be suffering in this way.”
John McDonnell is a regular columnist for Labour Outlook. Follow John on Twitter here and Facebook here.
23 July, 2024 Left Foot Forward Labour’s Zarah Sultana has explained perfectly why Labour needs to scrap the cap and also said that the party can fund the commitment, it’s ‘just a matter of political will’.
With today the last day of debate on the King’s speech, Labour leader Keir Starmer is facing a rebellion over his refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap which is responsible for keeping hundreds of thousands of children in poverty.
The SNP has tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for it to be axed, with a number of Labour MPs saying they would vote to scrap the cap, resulting in a headache for Starmer should Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle selects an amendment on the issue today.
Labour MP Kim Johnson has also put forward an amendment calling on the government to abolish the policy to lift an estimated 300,000 children out of poverty.
Politico reports: “As of last night 18 Labour MPs, including John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana, had signed their Liverpool Riverside colleague Kim Johnson’s amendment calling on the government to abolish the policy to lift an estimated 300,000 children out of poverty.
“Under normal parliamentary convention, that amendment is unlikely to be chosen, as it’s been put forward by MPs representing the party of government. But fear not, prime minister — the Liberal Democrats and the SNP are here and more than happy to help.”
Labour’s Zarah Sultana has explained perfectly why Labour needs to scrap the cap and also said that the party can fund the commitment, it’s ‘just a matter of political will’.
Sultana told Laura Kuenssberg’s show on Sunday that: “If the Labour Party has a moral mission, it has to be to eradicate poverty, especially child poverty.
“There are families experiencing unnecessary hardship. Rachel mentioned tough decisions we can fund this, if we look at different tax decisions where the wealthiest with the broadest shoulders pay for this.
“We are the sixth largest economy in the world and yet one of the most unequal in the developed world.”
Sultana went on to add: “We can uplift 300,000 kids instantly from poverty if we do this.
“This policy is the policy of the Labour Party’s 11 affiliated unions. It’s also the policy of the TUC, which speaks up for 6 million workers, so this is not a radical demand.
“In fact, if Rachel decided to put a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million, you can raise £24 billion a year, if you want to equalise capital gains with income rate thresholds, you can raise £16.7bn.
“So, when we say that there isn’t any money to fund this, we’re not looking in the right places.”
MPs to vote on amendment to King’s Speech calling for two-child cap be axed
MPs will vote on an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the two-child benefit cap to be axed – setting up a potential rebellion on the Labour benches among MPs on the left of the party.
The House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle confirmed this afternoon that an amendment put forward by the Scottish National Party will be voted on by MPs later today. The amendment calls on the government to “immediately abolish” the two-child limit “as a vital first step in tackling child poverty”.
Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Socialist Campaign Group chair Zarah Sultana have indicated they will vote to scrap the cap on Tuesday.
The Labour leadership has faced considerable pressure from within and beyond the party to abolish the cap, which prevents parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for a third child, with some exemptions. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, axing the cap would lift 300,000 children out of poverty.
Asked about abolishing the cap in an interview with Times Radio this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said Labour was elected “on the promise that we would only make spending commitments that we know we can keep”.
The Labour frontbencher added: “I’m not going to look constituents in the face and tell them I’m going to do something without actually having done the sums, figuring out how I’m going to pay for it.” She said elsewhere in the interview that driving down child poverty is a “real priority for this government”.
Multiple amendments had been put forward to the King’s Speech calling for the cap to be scrapped, including one tabled by Labour backbencher Kim Johnson, with the Speaker responsible for selecting which amendments would be put to a vote.
McDonnell – the Labour backbencher and former Shadow Chancellor – said in a video posted on X this morning: “37 Labour MPs like me put forward our own amendment to scrap the two-child limit, but that won’t be called. So the only opportunity we’ll have to vote on the two-child limit will be on an SNP motion.
“I have some history on this measure. I was in parliament in 2015 when it was introduced, and I condemned it and voted against it then. It’s really iniquitous. It’s forced large numbers of children into poverty and caused real hardship.
“So I believe we should get rid of it at the first opportunity. And that’s why I’ll be voting for the SNP amendment. I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments, but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party.”
The full text of the SNP’s motion is below:
At end add ‘but respectfully regret that the Gracious Speech fails to include immediate measures to abolish the two-child limit to Universal Credit; recognise that this policy is pushing children into poverty; further recognise that 1.6 million children are currently impacted and maintaining this policy will result in 670,000 additional children suffering poverty by the end of this parliament; believe that eradicating child poverty must be a primary priority for the newly-elected government; and therefore call on the government, as a vital first step in tackling child poverty, to immediately abolish the two-child limit’.
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