Four rebel MPs given Labour whip back

Four Labour MPs who rebelled against the Government in a vote on the two-child benefit cap have had the whip restored – but three others will remain sitting as Independents.

Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Rebecca Long-Bailey were suspended from the party in July for backing an SNP-led amendment to scrap the policy.

However, three other MPs who also lost the whip following the vote – former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana – will remain as Independents and have their position reviewed again in future.

Poplar and Limehouse MP Ms Begum, and Coventry South MP Ms Sultana said they had learnt the whip would not be restored for them from news reports.

“Turns out speaking up for Palestine is still a punishable offence,” Ms Sultana added.

Hayes and Harlington MP Mr McDonnell said he was “disappointed” that Ms Begum and Ms Sultana continued to be suspended but was “relaxed” about his own position.

“As I’ve made clear I don’t expect whip back until we know whether police are to charge me following recent Palestinian demo after which I was interviewed under caution,” he said.

He and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were voluntarily interviewed by police after the demonstration in London in January.

The amendment to the King’s Speech to scrap the two-child benefit cap last summer was Sir Keir Starmer’s first Commons rebellion. The Government comfortably defeated the vote, but more than 40 Labour MPs recorded no vote.

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.