Labour rebel suggests she was victim of ‘macho virility test’ after suspension

One of the seven Labour MPs suspended for rebelling over the two-child benefit cap has suggested she was the victim of a “macho virility test”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stripped Zarah Sultana and six others of the whip for backing an SNP motion to abolish the welfare limit.

On Wednesday, Sir Keir faces his first Prime Minister’s Questions since entering No 10, amid backbench unease over the move.

Ms Sultana said she “slept well knowing that I took a stand against child poverty” after being handed the six-month suspension.

This isn’t a game. This is about people’s lives

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, ex-business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey , Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne and Imran Hussain have also been kicked out of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Asked for her view of the Prime Minister following the action, Coventry South MP Ms Sultana told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m not interested in playing up to this macho virility test that seems to be what people are talking about.

“It’s about the material conditions of 330,000 children living in poverty.

“This isn’t a game. This is about people’s lives.”

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.”

Although the rebellion was small and the motion comfortably defeated by the Government, opposition to the cap within Labour is not limited to the seven who lost the whip.

Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said she had voted with the Government “for unity” but warned that the strength of feeling within the party is “undeniable”.

“We moved the dial, the campaign will continue,” she said.

Canterbury Labour MP Rosie Duffield has expressed support for scrapping the cap but said she could not attend Parliament on Tuesday because she has contracted Covid-19.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, 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.”

Members of the House of Commons voted 363 to 103, majority 260, to reject the amendment tabled in the name of 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.

More than 40 Labour MPs recorded no vote, with some of those listed spotted in the chamber throughout the day, while others will have had permission to miss the vote.

The decision to remove the whip from the seven who defied the Government over the amendment is an early show of ruthlessness from the new administration, and sends a message that dissent will not be taken lightly.

Jonathan Ashworth defended Sir Keir’s move and said it was not surprising.

The former Labour MP, who played a prominent role in his party’s election campaign but suffered a shock defeat in his seat, told the Today programme: “I don’t think any of us should be surprised that Labour MPs who were … not defending the first (Labour) King’s Speech for 14 years would lead to this disciplining.”

He also accused the seven rebels of “gesture” politics, saying: “To join with the odds and sods, who are pretty impotent in Parliament, they knew there was no chance of this amendment passing.”

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

Mr Flynn said Labour had “failed its first major test in Government” by choosing not to “deliver meaningful change from years of Tory misrule”.

“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,” he said.