Sparks flew at tonight’s Parliamentary Labour party (PLP) meeting. Deputy leader Angela Rayner had been due to speak to MPs as part of an end of term pep talk. Instead, the ongoing row over Keir Starmer’s decision to maintain the two child benefit cap if Labour enters government dominated the entire session.
Rayner herself has previously labelled the cap ‘obscene and inhumane’ and she was forced to defend herself when those past comments were raised by backbench Labour MPs. The deputy leader told her colleagues that she stood by the tweet but that there was a need for fiscal responsibility. More surprising than Rayner’s remarks were the range of criticisms voiced at tonight’s meeting.
Both Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Rosie Duffield – two MPs with very different views on trans rights – were united in their condemnation of Labour’s U-turn. Russell-Moyle subsequently told journalists afterwards that while ‘no reassurances were given, I am confident it will go back to Keir.’ ‘ Duffield argued that the abolition of the ‘rape clause’ was ‘just a basic thing that you expect from Labour.’
Other MPs who voiced their concerns in the meeting included Stella Creasy, Clive Efford and Ian Lavery. Tonight’s debate highlighted the uneasy truce that exists between various factions in Keir Starmer’s party. ‘It’s just like the old days,’ remarked one loyalist on seeing the waiting journalists outside the PLP room.
Starmer’s team will hope that the benefits cap row is merely a one-off reminder of the tensions that exist within the parliamentary caucus – and that it is a lesson in the discipline required if they enter government. However, for some Labour MPs, the whole episode has left them asking what exactly the party is for.
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