John McDonnell’s comments come six months after the Labour MPs had the whip suspended after rebelling against the government over the Tory-era two-child benefit limit
John McDonnell has said seven rebels who had the whip suspended have “served our sentence” and should be allowed to sit as Labour MPs again.
His comments come six months after the MPs – including Mr McDonnell – rebelled against Keir Starmer’s government over the two-child benefit limit. Left-wingers including Zarah Sultana, Ian Byrne, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Imran Hussain voted to scrap the policy blamed for trapping kids in poverty.
At the time they were told the decision to remove the whip would be reviewed after six months. Pressed on whether he had been told privately if his suspension had been lifted, Mr McDonnell told LBC on Thursday evening: “No, I’ve kept in touch with the Chief Whip throughout, obviously, but no, we won’t know anything until the weekend.
“But we’ve served our sentence, so I’m hoping we’ll simply have the whip restored.”
Mr McDonnell, who agreed to be interviewed by the police at the weekend after attending a pro-Palestine demo, said he did not think it would “prejudice” the case for having the whip restored. But he added: “It may delay the timing of it, particularly with me. But again, I don’t mind that I can understand the Labour Party doing that.”
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Quizzed on whether he would form a new party if the whip was not restored, he went on: “No. I’ve been a Labour Party member now for 50 years. It’s in my blood, this is my party. And politically it is the only vehicle that we have to bring about progressive change in this country, certainly from a socialist perspective.
“To do that, you need the broad church, the Labour Party as it was founded, left, right and centre. Don’t alienate any section of that, because if you do, you’ll alienate some elements of our support that will take us into government.”
Just weeks after Labour’s election victory, the PM suffered his first revolt in the Commons over the two-child benefit limit, which restricts parents from claiming Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits for any kids beyond their first two.
The amendment to the King’s Speech, which called for the policy to be scrapped, failed by 363 votes to 103, due to Labour’s huge majority in the chamber.
But No10 has continued to face pressure over the two-child benefit limit – one of the most severe cuts to the welfare state introduced by the Tories – since the vote. Charities have demanded the government commit to axing the measure as part of an ongoing child poverty task force, which is due to report back in the spring.
