Labour rebel says she ‘slept well knowing I took a stand’ over two-child benefit cap

A Labour MP said she “slept well” after being suspended by the party on Tuesday night over a Commons rebellion on the two-child benefit cap.

Zarah Sultana, one of seven from the party’s left stripped of the whip for backing an SNP motion to scrap the cap, said on Wednesday: “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.”

Sir Keir Starmer faces prime minister’s questions for the first time since entering No 10 amid a backlash over the move.

The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, ex-business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Sultana have been suspended.

Sultana said she saw the email on the way home from the vote last night telling her she had had the whip removed.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, she said: “I look forward to many bills that will be coming forward in this government including nationalising rail, the new deal for working people, but I was also very honest that we should go further, we can make a real difference to people’s lives.

“And when you’ve got anti-charity campaigners, thinktanks, trade unions saying that the key driver for child poverty in this country – which is the sixth largest economy in the world – is the Tories’ two-child benefit cap, then it is a moral imperative on the Labour party to scrap that and do everything that they can to make sure that not a single child has to live in unnecessary hardship and poverty.”

The House of Commons voted 363 to 103 to reject the amendment tabled in the name of the SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn.

The cap, introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.

Before the vote, Starmer had said there was “no silver bullet” to end child poverty but acknowledged the “passion” of MPs who were considering opposing the continuation of the Tory measure.

The move to suspend MPs from the party’s left was seen as an unprecedented response to an early rebellion and sent shock waves through the party, drawing criticism from some MPs who voted with the government.

A number of MPs said they were taken aback by the whipping operation, designed to send a signal to new MPs about rebelling early in the parliament.

Before the vote, McDonnell had said: “I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party.”

All seven have had the whip suspended for six months, when there will be a review.