Keir Starmer dodged questions about a Commons rebellion on the two-child benefit limit on Wednesday as he sought to strike a consensual tone in his first prime minister’s questions as prime minister.
Asked by two Scottish National party MPs about the revolt, for which seven Labour backbenchers were stripped of the party whip for six months, Starmer instead talked about the SNP’s record on child poverty.
The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell joined Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Zarah Sultana in being suspended after the vote on Tuesday evening on an SNP amendment to the king’s speech.
In a statement on Wednesday, Long-Bailey said she was “deeply saddened” to lose the whip, but that she felt she had no option.
After a notably polite first set of exchanges with Rishi Sunak, who asked about Ukraine and other defence-related issues, Starmer was challenged by Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader.
Flynn noted that Gordon Brown, a Labour former prime minister, had called for an end to the two-child limit on working-age benefits, which critics say is a major driver of childhood poverty, but that Starmer had whipped his MPs to oppose the SNP amendment. “So, prime minister, what changed?” Flynn asked Starmer.
The prime minister replied: “I’m glad he mentioned Gordon Brown because the last Labour government lifted millions of children out of poverty. It’s something we’re very, very proud of. This government will approach the question with the same vigour.”
Citing other policies such as primary school breakfast clubs, Starmer added: “But I would just say that before he lectures everyone else, he should explain why since the SNP came to power there are 30,000 more children in poverty.”
A few questions later, the SNP MP Pete Wishart addressed Starmer on the same issue, asking if his post-election honeymoon was “over before it’s even begun” after the vote and the suspensions.
Starmer again listed the Scottish statistics on child poverty, adding that the SNP should not deliver “lectures on what the electorate in Scotland are thinking” after losing dozens of seats in the election.
Speaking to reporters after PMQs, Starmer’s political spokesperson defended the decision to suspend the rebels, saying the prime minister had been consulted on the move.
“We’ve been very clear on our position on the two-child limit, and why we did not commit to removing it both during the campaign and since,” she said.
“And that is because given the economic situation we’ve inherited, we are very clear that we are not going to make promises that we can’t keep. Now clearly voting against the party’s position on the king’s speech is a serious matter.”
Long-Bailey said: “I am deeply saddened to have had the whip suspended for six months. As a strict matter of conscience, on this occasion I felt I must speak for my constituents who have no voice in the hope that the government urgently helps them on this issue. I will continue to work with the government and colleagues to help the constituents I represent.”
Sultana told ITV’s Good Morning Britain earlier on Wednesday that she and her colleagues had been the victims of a “macho virility test”.
“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,” she said.
The House of Commons voted by 363 to 103 to reject the amendment tabled in Flynn’s name. The cap, introduced in 2015 by the then chancellor, George Osborne, restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.
In much of Starmer’s first PMQs as prime minister he not only agreed with Sunak but also praised some members of other parties, including Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, whom he described as “a tireless advocate for carers” – while adding that after his election campaign stunts, he was pleased to see him in a suit and not a wetsuit.
