Labour restores whip to three more MPs who opposed two-child benefit cap

Labour has restored the whip to a further three MPs who voted against the two-child benefit cap, the Guardian understands.

Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Richard Burgon were among seven parliamentarians who were suspended in July for supporting an amendment to the king’s speech, tabled by the SNP.

They had been sitting as independents in the Commons alongside Apsana Begum, John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana. They all lost the party whip for six months last summer, after which their suspensions were due to be reviewed.

Begum, McDonnell and Sultana will remain suspended pending a future review, it is understood.

Last week, the Guardian confirmed the former shadow minister Rebecca Long-Bailey would be among the first group of suspended MPs to have the whip restored, with sources noting they had been warned that their readmission to the Labour fold would be subject to good behaviour.

Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, and Begum, the MP for Poplar and Limehouse, said they had learned of their extended suspensions from a media report. Sultana said on X: “Turns out speaking up for Palestine is still a punishable offence.” Begum added: “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.”

McDonnell expressed his concern for his colleagues who remained suspended. He wrote on X: “Pleased my colleagues got [the] whip back but disappointed Zarah & Apsana haven’t yet. Relaxed about my own position as I’ve made clear I don’t expect [the] whip back until we know whether police are to charge me following a recent Palestinian demo after which I was interviewed under caution.”

Sources told the Guardian that several of the MPs who were due to have their suspensions reviewed after six months were not expected to have the whip restored at the same time as whips continued to deem them “troublemakers”.

One Labour source said that several of those who were suspended had been “making it worse for themselves” in recent weeks.

The trickle of Labour whip restorations is understood to be a warning to new Labour backbenchers from the leadership that there were rules to be followed, and if they did not follow them they would be punished.

A party source had said Burgon, McDonnell and Sultana were seen as agitators after their suspensions since they had broken their agreement to vote with the government. They had also criticised Labour policy including on arms exports to Israel and scrapping the winter fuel allowance.

The vote on the two-child limit amendment last summer was a source of contention across the house, with some Labour MPs pushed to tears as they were forced to vote with the government and support the cap, which came early on in the new Labour administration’s term.

Labour peers have expressed their frustration with the policy, including Lady Lister, who urged the government to raise the cap in line with inflation as a matter of urgency so “the poorest families aren’t denied some of the protection of the annual uprating”.

Dozens of child poverty campaigners have continued to warn that more children would be driven into poverty as a result of a policy that was introduced by the former Conservative chancellor George Osborne.