Keir Starmer at a press conference on Thursday (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer said he would not be “deflected” by Labour rebels after he stripped the whip from several MPs. The Prime Minister suspended the whip from Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff.
The four MPs all voted against the Government over the welfare reform legislation, but party sources said the decision to suspend the whip was taken as a result of persistent breaches of discipline rather than a single rebellion. Sir Keir Starmer said he had to “deal with people who repeatedly break the whip” and that everyone elected as a Labour MP needs to “deliver as a Labour Government”.
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Asked at a press conference if his decision to punish MPs made him look weak, the Prime Minister said the party was elected to enact change and “we’ve got to carry through that change, and we’ve got to carry through reforms”.
He said: “I’m determined that we will change this country for the better, for millions of working people, and I’m not going to be deflected from that.
“And therefore we had to deal with people who repeatedly break the whip because everyone was elected as a Labour MP on the manifesto of change and everybody needs to deliver as a Labour Government.
“This is about what we’re doing for the country, and that’s why I’m so determined to press forward with the reforms and the change that we need to bring about.”
York Central MP Ms Maskell said earlier she thought Sir Keir’s response was wrong, saying: “On this occasion, I don’t think he’s got it right.”
She told the BBC: “I really hope from this process there will be reflection over the summer, but also learning.
“There needs to be a better reach-out to backbenchers to ensure that we are the safeguards of our Government.”
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Other MPs have been more supportive of the Prime Minister’s decision, with one telling the PA news agency: “Someone has to die in the square.”
Arguing that politics was a “team effort”, they suggested the suspensions would make rebels “think more about the politics”.
Government minister Jess Phillips said the four should not be surprised by the action against them.
The Home Office minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There has to be an element of discipline otherwise you end up not being able to govern.”
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She added: “I think that constantly taking to the airwaves and slagging off your own Government, I have to say, what did you think was going to happen?”
On Sky News she said: “We were elected as a team under a banner and under a manifesto, and we have to seek to work together, and if you are acting in a manner that is to undermine the ability of the Government to deliver those things, I don’t know what you expect.”
Referring to a description of the rebels by an unnamed source in The Times, she told Sky News: “I didn’t call it persistent knob-headery, but that’s the way that it’s been termed by some.”
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