Labour will be pushed to scrap two-child benefit limit, warns McDonnell

Labour will be pushed to act on abolishing the "indefensible" two-child benefit limit, the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said yesterday, after Keir Starmer suspended him and six others for the first rebellion against the new government.

- Jessica Elgot, Peter Walker

It came as several MPs expressed shock and dismay at the suspensions -including one suspended MP who claimed she felt her experiences of domestic abuse had been "weaponised" in conversations with the whips. Labour said it did not recognise those allegations.

Writing in the Guardian, McDonnell said the rebellion was not a coordinated attempt to undermine the government by voting on the SNP amendment but said it was a genuine point of conscience for those with high levels of child poverty in their constituencies.

"The seriousness of the risk demonstrates the seriousness of the issue at stake," he said. McDonnell and others, who have had the whip suspended for six months for their vote on the king's speech amendment, said they also had grave doubts about the effectiveness of the child poverty task force announced by the government ahead of the vote.

McDonnell said he believes the rebellion and the attention it has focused on child poverty meant the government would eventually have to address the cap and made it significantly more likely that it would be abolished.