Four Labour MPs suspended for breaking party discipline following a revolt over welfare cuts

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is trying to reassert control over the parliamentary Labour Party after rebellious MPs forced the Government into expensive reversals on cuts to disability benefits and winter fuel payments for pensioners in recent weeks. Photo / Getty Images

Labour suspended four of its Members of Parliament in Britain for breaking party discipline following a large-scale rebellion over welfare cuts this month.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Rachael Maskell confirmed their suspensions, arguing they were representing their constituents in opposing cuts to disability benefits.

A person familiar with the matter named Chris Hinchliff as the final MP suspended and said all four had the whip suspended for repeated breaches of party discipline.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is trying to reassert control over the parliamentary Labour Party after rebellious MPs forced the Government into expensive reversals on cuts to disability benefits and winter fuel payments for pensioners in recent weeks.

The move by whips, who enforce party discipline, comes after 49 MPs with the ruling party voted against the Government’s welfare bill, even after ministers backed down on the main cost-saving measures to stave off a bigger revolt.

Maskell, Duncan-Jordan and Hinchliff were all lead sponsors of a rebel amendment to the welfare bill, and Leishman also put his name to the proposal. Maskell, who spearheaded the amendment, told the BBC today that she didn’t “see myself as a rebel”.

“I really focus on supporting a Labour government, but I’m not afraid to debate and speak up for what’s in the interests of my constituents,” Maskell said.

Duncan Jordan said in a statement that he had “consistently spoken up for my constituents” including on welfare cuts, and that he “understood this could come at a cost, but I couldn’t support making disabled people poorer”.

Leishman said he wished to remain a Labour MP, adding that he had voted against the Government in order to “effectively represent” his constituents.

“I firmly believe that it is not my duty as an MP to make people poorer,” he said in a statement.

Neither Hinchliff nor the Labour Party immediately replied to requests for comment.

Labour was forced to U-turn on its plan designed to cut £5 billion ($11.2b) of spending on disability benefits after 126 of its own MPs threatened to vote against the proposals - enough to defeat the Government, despite the huge majority secured by Labour in last year’s general election.

Even so, Duncan Jordan, Leishman, Maskell and Hinchliff were among MPs to flout party discipline by voting against the bill.

The misstep over welfare was seen as an embarrassment for Starmer and has left Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves facing having to make unpopular tax hikes in her autumn budget to fill a fiscal hole widened by the reversal.

Maskell and Duncan-Jordan also abstained from a vote last year pushing cuts to winter fuel payments for most pensioners through.

In August, Maskell wrote an open letter urging the Government to rethink the cost-cutting.