Rosa_Ushiiromiya_Fan: Starmer and Reeves have refused to scrap the benefit cap introduced by the Cameron-Clegg coalition, citing financial reasons.[185][186][187] The cap was introduced in 2013 as part of the coalition government's wide-reaching welfare reform agenda which included the introduction of Universal Credit and reforms of housing benefit and disability benefits.[188] Starmer's government cited wide public support for the measure, despite it being highly controversial.[189][failed verification] The benefit cap primarily affects families with children, high rents, or both.[190][relevant?] By 2024, the year Starmer and Reeves entered government, two-thirds of the families affected by the cap were single-parent families, half of which had a child under five.[191]
On 23 July 2024 Labour withdrew the whip from 7 of its MPs who had supported an amendment tabled by the Scottish National Party (SNP)'s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, to scrap it, with Flynn stating that scrapping the cap would immediately raise 300,000 children out of poverty. MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103.[192] The seven Labour MPs suspended for six months were John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana, all of whom then sat as independents. Burgon, Byrne, Long-Bailey and Hussain had the Labour whip restored on 5 February 2025, while Sultana, McDonnell and Begum continue to sit as independents. Starmer launched a Child Poverty Taskforce, in which expert officials from across government would work together on how best to support more than four million children living in poverty.[29]
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On 23 July 2024 Labour withdrew the whip from 7 of its MPs who had supported an amendment tabled by the Scottish National Party (SNP)'s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, to scrap it, with Flynn stating that scrapping the cap would immediately raise 300,000 children out of poverty. MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103.[192] The seven Labour MPs suspended for six months were John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana, all of whom then sat as independents. Burgon, Byrne, Long-Bailey and Hussain had the Labour whip restored on 5 February 2025, while Sultana, McDonnell and Begum continue to sit as independents. Starmer launched a Child Poverty Taskforce, in which expert officials from across government would work together on how best to support more than four million children living in poverty.[29]
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