For some new MPs, last night was the first time they got to vote in the House of Commons. Croydon’s Labour MPs voted to support Tory policies that condemn more than 3,000 households in the borough to remain in poverty.
By WALTER CRONXITE, political editor
No change, no hope: the Tory two-child benefit cap is staying in place under Labour
Not a single Croydon MP – Conservative or Labour – voted in Parliament last night in favour of the amendment to remove the two-child cap on child benefit.
Croydon’s four MPs represent a borough where nearly two-thirds of families with children are reckoned to live in poverty.
Seven Labour MPs who did vote for the SNP amendment to the King’s Speech on child benefit had the party whip withdrawn – less than three weeks after they were elected as Labour MPs as their party won the General Election with an overwhelming majority.
None of Croydon’s Labour MPs took quite such a principled stand.
The authoritarian move quickly saw the Labour Prime Minister dubbed “Sir Kid Starver”.
Steve Reed OBE, now the environment secretary, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North, and Natasha Irons, the new MP for Croydon East, dutifully followed Keir Starmer’s instructions and opposed the motion. Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South, abstained. Sarah Jones, Croydon West’s MP, wasn’t even in the Commons for the vote.
No change, no hope: the memes quickly appeared
Figures show that there are 3,300 families in Croydon with more than two children who are not receiving benefits on at least one child as a consequence of the Tory two-child benefit cap.
Labour now says it cannot afford to scrap – despite the government deciding to keep higher rate tax relief on pensions, a “benefit” for many of the wealthiest in society which would pay for all the additional benefits, and still have £12billion left over for other spending.
According to the End Child Poverty Coalition, 62% of Croydon households with children and receiving benefits are capped.
The lobby group figures show the same proportion in Sutton, with 1,000 families capped there.
The SNP amendment to the King’s Speech said:
“but respectfully regret that the Gracious Speech fails to include immediate measures to abolish the two-child limit to Universal Credit; recognise that this policy is pushing children into poverty; further recognise that 1.6million children are currently impacted and maintaining this policy will result in 670,000 additional children suffering poverty by the end of this Parliament; believe that eradicating child poverty must be a primary priority for the newly-elected Government; and therefore call on the Government, as a vital first step in tackling child poverty, to immediately abolish the two-child limit.”
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP for the nearby constituency of Clapham and Brixton Hill, abstained on the amendment, explaining that Labour’s whips had warned that a vote on any amendment to their Government’s King’s Speech would be regarded as a vote of confidence. Ribeiro-Addy said that she would have liked to support the amendment, on a matter of principle.
Both of Sutton’s Liberal Democrats MPs voted to axe the two-child benefit cap. But then, it was not their Government’s King’s Speech.
For Luke Taylor, now MP for Sutton and Cheam, the consequences of the vote were clear. “The cap now becomes Labour policy and responsibility, and theirs to defend,” he said.
Economist Richard Murphy described Labour as being in a “moral void” over the child benefit cap.
Today, he explained the position thus: “The cost of this cap is thought to be £1.7billion, but the Labour front bench appears to have mysteriously increased this sum to £3billion.
“… Child poverty in the UK could be eliminated by ending the higher rate tax relief on pension contributions that the wealthiest in this country enjoy, saving almost £15billion in tax reliefs for those wealthy people as a result, with about £12billion then being left over to end other Tory abuses of those in need, such as the bedroom tax and the absurd rules in the carer’s allowance that have turned it into a nightmare for many.
“Starmer and [Rachel] Reeves [the Labour Chancellor] have, however, turned this issue into a virility test.
“They are determined that maybe 730,000 children must suffer so that they can demonstrate their commitment to making Rachel Reeves’ spreadsheets balance, even though that exercise in spreadsheet balancing is, in itself, an exercise in pure economic dogmatism.
“Seven MPs subjected to this dogmatic refusal to relieve poverty. As most of them explained on Twitter, they represent constituencies where the rate of child poverty is very high. It is more than 45% in some of their constituencies. They believe they have a duty to represent the interests of children in the places for which they are Members of Parliament. For doing so, they have had the Labour whip suspended.
Over-excited: Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has the privilege of meeting Natasha Irons
“I believe those MPs who voted in accordance with their consciences in an attempt to relieve poverty amongst children in this country did the right thing last night.
“I believe Starmer and Reeves have made a gross error of judgement. Not only do they prove that they appear to be governing in the interests of those with wealth, coupled with indifference towards the needs of those in poverty, but they have shown that they will also pursue a Tory policy rather than make the changes that one would expect of a supposed Labour Party.”
So making her first-ever vote in Parliament one to “pursue a Tory policy rather than make the changes that one would expect of a supposed Labour Party”, Croydon East MP Irons has shown that she will put party before people. Just like the egregiously ambitious Reed has always done before her, and just as Jones normally does.
Irons has spent her first couple of weeks in Parliament behaving like an over-excited sixth former on work experience, as nothing much more than an opportunity to take more selfies for her personal scrapbooks, while she seeks to appoint staff for her office (exciting!), and poses at Croydon Pride and the Croydon Mayor’s civic dinner.
Irons’s maiden speech, when it comes, is sure to be a humdinger, about how her dad is a Palace fan and how much she likes using the trams…
How long will it be before the people of Croydon East express voter regret because they voted Labour but got Tory policy?
Read more: Reed and Jones are handed jobs in Starmer’s new government
Read more: Irons picked by Labour amid Croydon East police investigation
Read more: Labour admits serious breach of private data in Croydon East
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
“The Labour Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing” – Keir Starmer in February 2021 quoting Harold Wilson.
“I will expel you from My Labour Party if you vote to reduce poverty” – Keir Starmer in July 2024.
It was disappointing, but sadly not surprising, that Natasha Irons joined most of her Labour colleagues yesterday in voting to keep children in poverty.
As I said during the election, Labour MPs are told what to say and how to vote by their party. I applaud the 7 Labour MPs who joined the Green Party MPs and others in voting for the amendment committing the Government to lift the two-child benefit cap. But Keir Starmer’s decision to immediately suspend those Labour MPs was a clear message to any others who were even thinking of taking a stand for what’s right for their constituents that for him party loyalty must come first.
It looks like we are stuck with an MP who will just do what they are told instead of one who will stand up for us residents of Croydon East.
Those who voted for the SNP amendment were
Alliance 1
Green 4
Independents 6
Labour 7
Liberal Democrats 64
SNP 8
SDLP 2
TUV 1
UUP 1
Plus tellers Plaid Cymru 1, SNP 1.
I agree with Peter. It’s disgraceful that we have any child poverty in a rich country
One other who voted in favour of the cap, was next door (Mitcham & Morden) MP Siobhain McDonagh,who boldly stated on BBC’s PoliticsLive that “nobody likes it but it’s the question of what can you afford.
Whoops. In February 2018,in the SW Londoner, she called for ‘decisive action to end child poverty in London’ while leading a parliamentary debate.
She then said: “It is time for Parliament to understand just what causes poverty.”
Quite so.