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Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “authoritarian control-freakery” after suspending seven LabourMPs for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The prime minister removed the whip from long-standing figures including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell after they rebelled against the government to back an SNP-led amendment to scrap the policy.
As backlash against the Labour leader grows, a member of the party’s governing national executive committee said the move “does not benefit him, the party or anyone in the long-run”.
But a political spokesperson from Downing Street confirmed today that the action had been taken “ because they rebelled against the King’s speech - the party’s programme for government - which is a serious matter.”
The spokesperson denied that the move would set a precedent for all rebellions and Downing Street confirmed that lifting the cap is something a review into child poverty will be able to consider.
Asked if there were conditions on the rebels being allowed back into the party, the spokesperson said: “That is a matter for the chief whip.”
But it was also confirmed that the prime minister was consulted about the decision to kick the rebels out and agreed with it.
Left-winger Mish Rahman told Times Radio: “Keir Starmer thinks this is showing he is a strong leader, but really it is complete control-freakery and authoritarianism.
“I do not think it is the right thing to do because everybody in the Labour Party, including Keir Starmer, will criticise that cap.
“It shows why politicians will say one thing and do another, which leads to a rise in the mistrust of politicians, when people say ‘we hate this, we want to get rid of it’, but when it comes to voting for it, they don’t.”
The rebellion came as the i newspaper revealed that Sir Keir’s new adviser on children and young people has repeatedly called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.
New No10 adviser Rachel Statham – formerly the associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) for work and welfare state – has also previously criticised the policy, including describing the cap as “punitive” and calling on the former Conservative government to end it, the paper reported.
The two-child benefit cap, imposed by Tory former chancellor George Osborne, prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
Sir Keir has previously called for the policy to be scrapped, but has since said Labour cannot fund the move and will not promise to do so until it can say how the change would be paid for. He and chancellor Rachel Reeves have faced mounting calls from backbench Labour MPs and campaigners to remove the limit, which would bring 300,000 children people out of poverty and 700,000 more out of deep poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group.
In the first rebellion Sir Keir has faced since becoming prime minister, seven MPs backed an SNP-led amendment to his King’s Speech to scrap the cap.
As a result, Mr McDonnell, former leadership contender Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Zarah Sultana have been suspended from the parliamentary party.
Ms Sultana said she did not know she would be suspended from the party if she rebelled, but that she would have done so anyway.
“It is really important to use every opportunity in parliament to make the case that the two-child cap has to be scrapped,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
She added: “This is something that many people even in the Labour Party believe is important to do, that is why I voted that day.
“If scrapping the cap is not an urgent priority for a Labour government, you have to question what is… every day it is in place, hundreds of thousands of children are enduring unnecessary poverty.” She also told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I slept well knowing that I took a stand against child poverty that is affecting 4.3 million people in this country and it is the right thing to do and I am glad I did it.”
Union leaders have issued a stark warning to Sir Keir Starmer over his treatment of seven leftwing MPs over the two child benefit cap vote.
TUC president and Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “1.6 million children are affected by the two child cap, and 300,000 children live in poverty as a result of it. The UK is a rich country with ample resources for everyone to live a decent life.
“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.”
Meanwhile the general secretary of Labour-affiliated train drivers union Aslef said Labour has such a big majority that “you should be able to have voices in a broad church saying they disagree with you”.
Mick Whelan told Radio 4: “I fully support those seven MPs on the basis that I think the two-child cap is torturous and should be removed.
“I think it will be the intention eventually, the problem for any new government is that you cannot do anything overnight… I believe it should [go], child poverty costs us £36bn a year in the UK, surely getting people out of child poverty is worthwhile and would reduce that cost at some point.”
Sir Keir indicated this week that Labour is considering scrapping the cap after education secretary Bridget Phillipson said it would be looked at as “one of a number of ways” to lift children out of poverty.
Ms Phillipson told Sky News: “Too many young people in our country are growing up in poverty. That number increased massively under the Conservatives.
“There are a range of measures that we will need to consider in terms of how we respond to this.”
On ditching the two-child benefit limit, she added: “Unfortunately, it’s also a very expensive measure, but we will need to consider it as one of a number of levers in terms of how we make sure we lift children out of poverty.”
Sir Keir said there was “no silver bullet” to tackle child poverty but “it’s good that we’re having a debate about it”.
He added: “If there was a silver bullet it would have been shot a very long time ago.”
Instead, there was a “complicated set of factors” including pay, benefits, work, housing, education and health “and that is why you need a strategy to deal with it”.
He also acknowledged the “passion” of Labour MPs on the issue.
