THE LABOUR MP for Coventry South has had the party whip suspended for six months – less than three weeks since her party formed a new government.
Zara Sultana was suspended from the party for voting against the government in favour of an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap, alongside six other Labour MPs who will now sit as independents for the duration of their suspension.
They voted alongside the Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Plaid Cymru, the SDLP, the Alliance Party, and independent MPs, backing an amendment to the King’s Speech proposed by the SNP.
The Conservative government introduced the two-child benefit cap in 2017, preventing parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for a third child.
Ms Sultana told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she had not been informed she would lose the whip if she voted for the amendment – but added it would not have changed her decision.
She said: “If scrapping the cap isn’t an urgent priority for a Labour government, you have to question what is.
“There are 4.3million children living in poverty in the UK, and in my constituency in Coventry South, 10,000 children are growing up in poverty – that’s one in three.
“These numbers are unprecedented, and behind every number is a child who is going hungry, who is returning to a cold home, who is missing out on key life experiences.
“There are 10,000 children in my constituency who are not able to live at a good quality of life because of a policy that we can choose to scrap today.
“Every day it is in place hundreds of thousands of children are enduring unnecessary poverty, and that is unacceptable in the sixth largest economy in the world.”
Asked for her view on being suspended from the party, she added: “I’m not interested in playing up to this macho virility test.
“This isn’t a game. This is about people’s lives.”
Sir Keir Starmer saw off the rebellion by 363 votes to 103 – the first big test of the new government.
