Who are the seven rebel MPs suspended by Labour over the vote on the cap on the two-child allowance? | Politics news

Seven Labour MPs were suspended for voting against the government on the issue of the cap on the two-child benefit.

The rebel backbenchers had supported an amendment to abolish the cap, but have now lost the whip – that is, they can continue to sit as MPs in Parliament but will not be counted as Labour MPs – for the next six months until the decision is reviewed.

So who are the seven MPs? Sky News explains.

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John McDonnell

The most famous of the rebels, John McDonnellHis most prominent political position was as Shadow Chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn.

He has been Member of Parliament for Hayes and Harlington since 1997.

Mr McDonnell had previously unsuccessfully contested the presidency against Gordon Brown in 2007.

He was a notorious rebel against previous Labour governments – including on the Iraq issue – and a prominent member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG).

This time he was the one who led the movement that voted against the government.

Rebecca Long Bailey

First elected in 2015, Rebecca Long Bailey was also a member of the SCG and Mr Corbyn’s frontbench team and most recently served as Shadow Business Secretary.

In 2020, she ran to succeed Mr Corbyn as party leader, but came second – with less than half the vote of Sir Keir Starmer.

She was the Corbyn wing’s choice for the post of party leader, but this did not save her campaign.

Initially she was in Sir Keir’s shadow frontbench, but was fired after sharing an article that “contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.”

Zarah Sultana

Zarah Sultana, another SCG member and former supporter of Mr Corbyn, was first elected in 2019. Since then, she has been a mainstay of the party’s left wing.

This is not her first clash with the party leadership. In 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, Ms Sultana was threatened with losing her parliamentary group leadership for signing a letter from the Stop The War Coalition criticising NATO. She later withdrew her signature.

Mrs Sultana has spoken about the threats and fears for her safety that she faced as a Muslim MP.

After her suspension, she wrote on social media that removing the cap on the two-child benefit would “lift 330,000 children out of poverty.”

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

Richard Burgon

Like the others on this list, Mr Burgon was a supporter of Mr Corbyn and is a member of the SCG.

In 2020, he ran for deputy party leader, but came third behind Angela Rayner and Rosena Allin-Khan.

He was elected in 2015 and appointed shadow minister in 2017 following mass resignations from the party in protest against Corbyn’s leadership.

He has been criticized in the past for his support of Fidel Castro and Nicolas Maduro, as well as for alleged statements he made about Zionism.

Like Ms Sultana, he signed a letter criticising NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but later withdrew his signature.

In a post on social media, Mr Burgon said he was “disappointed by the decision to suspend group affiliation”.

He said he supported the government’s approach but wanted to see a plan to remove the cap and urged 10 Downing Street to “come forward with a plan to do so”.

Apsana Begum

Like Ms Sultana, Ms Begum was elected for the first time in 2019.

As a SCG member, she was criticized for signing the anti-NATO letter in 2022, which she later backed away from.

She was the first British MP to wear a headscarf and spoke about her experiences of Islamophobic and misogynistic attacks.

Ms Begum has criticised her party for its stance on Islamophobia.

In 2021 she was found not guilty of housing fraud and acquitted of maliciously concealing information in connection with her application for social housing in Tower Hamlets.

Regarding the cap on the two-child benefit ratio, Begum said she voted this way because the cap had contributed to “an increase and deepening of child poverty and food insecurity” in her constituency.

Imran Hussain

Imran Hussain has been an MP since 2015 and has served as a shadow frontbencher under both Mr Corbyn and Sir Keir.

He nominated Mr Corbyn as leader in 2015 and then supported Ms Long-Bailey as leader in 2020 and Mr Burgon as deputy.

After the change of leadership, he retained his role as shadow minister.

However, this ended in November last year when he resigned in protest about Sir Keir’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mr Hussain said he was “disappointed” at his suspension but said his constituents were “among those worst affected by a policy that all organisations fighting child poverty have been calling on the Government to abolish”.

Ian Byrne

Ian Byrne is another candidate for Parliament in 2019, a member of the SCG and a supporter of Mr Corbyn.

In 2019, before his election, he was branded “sexist” by then-Women and Equalities Minister Esther McVey because of comments he made on social media.

He apologized for his statement in a statement after the posts became known and was supported by Mr McDonnell.

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Like other members of this list, he supported Ms Long-Bailey and Mr Burgon in the race for party leadership and deputy leadership in 2020.

He said he voted against the cap because experts believe it is the best way to “immediately impact” child poverty.