UK: Labour suspends 7 rebel MPs including Apsana

Seven Labour MPs including Bangladesh-origin Apsana Begum have had the whip suspended for six months after voting against the government on an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell was among the Labour MPs who voted for an SNP motion calling for an end to the policy, which prevents almost all parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for more than two children.

McDonnell backed the SNP motion alongside Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana.

MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103, in the first major test of the new Labour government’s authority.

The two-child cap, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, does not apply to child benefit, a weekly payment which is made for every child someone has.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank has estimated that removing the two-child benefit cap would eventually cost the government £3.4bn a year, roughly 3% of the total budget for working-age benefits.

Figures show an estimated 1.6 million children were living in families affected by the policy.

However, a recent survey by YouGov suggested 60% of people think the two-child limit should remain.

Losing the whip means the MPs are suspended from the parliamentary party and will now sit as independents.

Nearly all of the rebels were allies of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP and put his name to the SNP motion.

Sultana told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she had not been informed she would lose the whip if she voted for the amendment.

However, she said this would not have changed her decision.

Source: BBC