Seven Labour MPs were stripped of their confidence in the party after voting to abolish the two-child limit

Seven Labour MPs who defied Sir Keir Starmer and voted to abolish the two-child cap on welfare have had their parliamentary credentials stripped for six months.

Seven Labour MPs had their vote of no confidence withdrawn after they voted for the two-child limit, thereby supporting an SNP amendment to the “King’s Speech”.

The motion to immediately lift the two-child limit was rejected by 103 votes to 363. After the result was announced, slow clapping could be heard in the hall.

The seven Labour MPs included former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Sir Keir’s former rival for the party leadership, Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Zarah Sultana were also suspended. They will now remain in office as independents for six months, after which a review will be held.

In a post, Ms Sultana, MP for Coventry South, said: “The Labour Party leader and leadership have informed me that the group’s confidence has been withdrawn because I voted to remove the cap on the two-child benefit, which would lift 330,000 children out of poverty.”

“I will always stand up for the weakest in our society.”

The cap, introduced in 2015 by then Conservative Chancellor George Osborne, limits Universal Credit, or child tax credit, to the first two children born to most families. The Resolution Foundation estimates that removing the cap would cost £2.5 billion a year.

There were calls for the Labour government to drop the measure, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she would not make any commitments to unfunded spending.

This week, Sir Keir indicated that ministers would consider ending child poverty “as one of a number of levers” to reduce child poverty.

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He also acknowledged the “passion” of Labour MPs who considered rebelling against maintaining the Tory measure.

Sir Keir prevented a wider rebellion after an amendment by Labour MP Kim Johnson, who demanded

Government spokesman Lindsay Hoyle did not select him because he had committed to abolishing the two-child limit.

During the debate, she said that “punitive policy must be thrown on the dustbin of history where it belongs.”

One MP said the threat of a major uprising had “forced the government to consider abolishing the cap” and the rebels would now focus on abolishing it in the budget later this year.

“I would now prefer to work constructively with the government and hope that the task force will become part of the budget,” they added.

Another said Ms Johnson, who represents Liverpool Riverside, had “thrown down the gauntlet” to the Government.

But the decision to suspend the seven MPs risks sparking a new row with the left. All were members of the anti-Starmer Socialist Campaign Group.

Previously, the SNP leader in Westminster had called on Labour backbenchers to “vote according to their conscience”.

The campaign was supported by Plaid Cymru, the Greens and other MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is running as an independent.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said after the vote: “Tonight, Labour failed its first major test in government.

“Labour MPs had the chance to make a meaningful difference after years of Conservative mismanagement by lifting thousands of children out of poverty immediately – they chose not to do so politically.”

Labour’s response to the child benefit cap uprisings shows that 10 Downing Street will not tolerate dissent

Following his surprise election victory on 4 July, Keir Starmer became the first Labour Prime Minister to enter Downing Street in 14 years.

With an overwhelming majority of 174 seats, he was no doubt relieved that the close votes that had plagued predecessors such as Theresa May would no longer be a problem.

But just days later, seven Labour MPs defied him and voted for the SNP’s attempt to abolish the two-child cap on benefits – and that was at least a change to his first royal speech.

The newly empowered prime minister, once jokingly referred to as “Mr. Rules” by his cabinet colleague Lisa Nandy, could have taken the same approach as Tony Blair after his landslide victory in 1997, namely virtually ignoring minor rebellions as they posed no threat to his authority.

Instead, Speaker of the House Sir Alan Campbell suspended all seven for six months, sending the clearest signal yet that there is no tolerance for dissent in Starmer’s Downing Street.

The rebels include his former rival for the party leadership, Rebecca Long Bailey, and in particular John McDonnell, a key player on the left of the Labour Party.

Many ministers will see this move as justified. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has clearly tried to calm internal unrest by setting up a special taskforce to tackle child poverty, which had grown rapidly under the Conservatives.

Even MPs who were on the verge of rebellion admitted they “got it” when Whips warned them that a rebellion against Starmer’s first government programme would not end well.

All those being thrown out into the cold, at least for now, are members of the anti-Starmer campaign group, the Socialist Campaign Group.

But opposition to the two-child limit is deep and can be felt across all wings of the Labour Party – and beyond that, in society as a whole.

Stella Creasy, Rosie Duffield, Helen Hayes and Meg Hillier – MPs largely aligned with the No10 campaign – have all voted against it. Duffield, who was cautious on this vote but is no timid violet, branded the cap “social cleansing” and “anti-feminist”.

Gordon Brown called for the restriction to be lifted, as did numerous think tanks, economists and family-friendly conservatives. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury described it as “neither moral nor necessary”.

So while this show of force is likely to be directed at those determined to disobey him, Downing Street is well aware that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget – which is likely to be presented within six months, by the way – must contain some answers.

By Rachel Wearmouth.