Keir Starmer has restored the whip to a number of MPs who were previously punished for rebelling against the two-child benefit cap. Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, and Rebecca Long-Bailey have been serving as independent MPs over the last six months – but they’ve now had the whip restored. However, John McDonnell, Apsana Begum, and Zarah Sultana still remain suspended.
The kicker? Labour didn’t even bother to let them know!
Sultana and Begum: read all about it
Apparently, it’s too much to ask for your own party to let you know that they’re going to betray you. Sultana tweeted:
I've just found out from this article that my whip still hasn't been restored.
Turns out speaking up for Palestine is still a punishable offence.https://t.co/AbpMRab9lz
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 5, 2025
Apsana Begum also found out via an article:
I have found out in a news article, that I’ve not had the Labour whip restored which was removed for voting to scrap the 2-child limit.
Almost half of all children in my borough grow up in poverty.
I want to be clear: I will always stand up for the people of Poplar & Limehouse.
— Apsana Begum MP (@ApsanaBegumMP) February 5, 2025
John McDonnell explained he wasn’t expecting to get the whip back:
Pleased my colleagues got whip back but disappointed Zarah & Apsana haven’t yet. Relaxed about my 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.
— John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) February 5, 2025
However, McDonnell makes an interesting point – there is further context to Sultana and Begum remaining suspended. Two women of colour in the Labour Party who have faced vitriolic racism and Islamophobia need to have the support of the prime minister.
What do they get instead? Shoved to the sidelines and treated disrespectfully.
Starmer squashing dissent
Both Sultana and Begum alluded to the possible reasons behind their continued suspension. In fact, even the BBC seems to have worked it out for once, as they reported:
All seven MPs are on the left of the party but the three who have not had their suspension lifted have continued to be critical of the government over the past six months.
Prior to her tweet about the suspension, Sultana said:
The US, UK, Germany and other Western nations have enabled Israel’s genocide in Gaza, eroding the rules-based international order established after WWII.
Yet millions worldwide understand: silence on Palestine is complicity in a system that will treat all of us as disposable.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 5, 2025
Begum had said:
Trump’s plans to forcibly displace and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, are not only inhumane, they are illegal.
When will our Government speak up, reject the proposals and take action to oppose these efforts?
The world is watching and history will never ever forget.
— Apsana Begum MP (@ApsanaBegumMP) February 5, 2025
It would appear it’s not enough for Starmer to make the lives of children in the UK worse – he’s got to take his act overseas to Palestine as well. It’s an absolute disgrace that the Labour party is continuing to sideline vocal opponents of their policies.
Momentum released a statement in support of the still-suspended MPs, writing:
The way the Leadership is treating those who voted against maintaining the two-child benefit cap is vindictive and cruel. What’s worse, it’s a slap in the face to their constituents and to the millions of children living in poverty across Britain.
This is just another example of the Leadership’s petty authoritarianism in an attempt to stifle dissent…This will be remembered as a dark day for the Labour Party.
Zack Polanski, deputy leader of the Green Party, called the continued suspensions a “dire decision”:
This is a dire decision by the Labour Party.
Zarah has consistently been a vital and important voice in calling out the genocide.
She's also continually called out the inequality & unfairness of Tory austerity – that is now getting even worse under the new government. https://t.co/tHL3gHd1LY
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) February 5, 2025
Journalist Rivkah Brown took a dim view of Starmer’s actions:
We're told Starmer can chair a meeting, draft a minute, lead a team – he can't even call up his own MPs to tell them they're still suspended! The man's afraid of his own shadow. https://t.co/nXZ7P8seDD
— Rivkah Brown (@rivkahbrown) February 5, 2025
Kid starver strikes again
It absolutely beggars belief that the Labour Party are the ones punishing their own MPs for rebelling against a policy that makes it harder for parents to be able to afford to feed their kids. As the Canary’s James Wright reported:
A new report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has highlighted that a quarter of households with children under four are experiencing food poverty. The EPI also found that children under five are 25% more likely to experience food poverty than other children.
It’s scandalous that any MPs were suspended for representing the interests of their constituents by voting against the two-child benefit cap in the first place. Now, Starmer is adding insult to injury by punishing those who criticise his government. As usual, it’s two women of colour on the line for defending Palestine, and hungry children.
The nasty party’s back.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.