It didn’t take long. The new Labour government suffered its first rebellion when seven of their members of parliament voted for an amendment from the Scottish National Party (SNP) to the King’s Speech calling for the lifting of the controversial two-child benefit cap. On top of that a significant number of Labour MPs abstained or didn’t vote.
The amendment was defeated only after Starmer threatened to take action against those who voted for it… and he duly carried it out. Seven MPs, all of them were supporters of previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, were suspended from the whip for six months, a move criticised by many political commentators and even from those inside the parliamentary party. However, this wasn’t a proper rebellion, when prime government legislation is actually defeated by a majority of votes in parliament.
The seven MPs who have effectively got themselves expelled by Labour may have won the moral argument, but why on earth did they decide to be candidates for the party, who at the recent general election had no intention of lifting the cap in the first place? Had they stood as indepedents and won, they could have been a major irritant to Starmer and so could be their true selves instead of having to make endless compromises. On the plus side, the seven could easily link up with Corbyn and the four other elected independents to create a decent progressive campaigning block to help the other opposition parties stop Labour imposing more punitive laws.
As for Starmer, his first proper test of showing real leadership in government has failed at the first hurdle. This shows that he repeatedly folds at the most slightest pressure, and this will understandibly lead to the public perception that the country will continue to be ungovernable under Labour.