Seven Labour MPs lose whip after voting with SNP against two-child cap

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has removed the Labour whip from seven MPs who defied him to vote for an SNP amendment calling for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said refusing to abolish the benefits cap, which was introduced by the Conservative government in 2017, meant Labour must now "take ownership" of it.

It was the first minor rebellion for the new Labour Government since being elected on 4 July after opposition parties forced a House of Commons vote on abolishing the benefits cap.

There had been suggestions the rebellion would be larger, but in the end only seven MPs voted against their own government, all of whom have now had the Labour whip temporarily suspended.

Of the 37 Scottish Labour MPs, 36 of them voted with the government, despite Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar being vocally against the cap. Katrina Murray, the MP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, did not vote.

Flynn said: "This is now the Labour government's two child cap - and it must take ownership of the damage it is causing, including the appalling levels of poverty in the UK.

"The SNP will campaign vigorously for the cap to be abolished at the earliest opportunity. It is the very worst of Westminster’s welfare cuts, and every day it remains more children suffer.

"The Labour government has a moral duty to go much further and faster to tackle child poverty. Scrapping the cap is the bare minimum we should expect. In order to eradicate child poverty, the UK government must take much bolder action, including matching the Scottish Child Payment UK-wide by raising Universal Credit by £26.70 per child, per week at the UK budget."

The amendment, which did not pass, expressed regret that scrapping the two-child cap was not in the King's Speech.

353 MPs voted against the amendment on Tuesday night, while 103 voted for it.

The seven Labour MPs who defied the whip included former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, former shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, and back bencher Zarah Sultana.

While it was highly unlikely the government would be defeated on the motion due to its 174 seat majority in the House of Commons, the rebellion by the Labour left will likely increase pressure on ministers to lift the cap at the Autumn Budget.

Several dozen more Labour MPs, including senior left-winger Diane Abbott, abstained on the SNP amendment.

Earlier in the day, Labour MPs who were planning on voting for opposition amendments were warned it would result in them losing Labour whip.

Throughout the general election campaign, Labour refused to commit to scrapping the cap despite pressure to do so from elements of the left, arguing that the money was not available and the party would not make “uncosted” promises.

The two-child benefit cap, which in most households restricts the receipt of some benefits to a family’s first two children, was introduced in 2017 by then-Tory chancellor George Osborne. The Child Poverty Action Group has said that scrapping it would lift 250,000 children out of poverty.

In a bid to assuage back bench discontent, last week the government announced a 'Child Poverty Strategy' to look at growing levels of poverty among children in the UK and the best way of tackling the issue.

In a further sign that the government could change its position later down the line, education secretary Bridget Phillipson on Monday said ministers would "consider [lifting the cap] as one of a number of levers in terms of how we make sure we lift children out of poverty".

Most leading charities agree the cap is the leading driver of child poverty in the UK, with a report by Loughborough University published last month saying "constituency-level child poverty rates are directly and strongly correlated with the percentage of children affected by the two-child limit in that local area, providing further evidence that the policy is a key driver of child poverty."