In the end, the Labour rebellion over George Osborne’s new cap on welfare spending (which The Staggers revealed details of on Monday) was smaller than most predicted, with 13 voting against the measure, including Diane Abbott and Tom Watson (22 MPs voted against in total, with 520 in favour).
But it’s worth noting that some would-be rebels were away at a funeral and that party sources may well have inflated the likely number of dissenters in an attempt to manage expectations (a figure of 25 was mentioned at one point). It’s also likely that at least some MPs were persuaded by the whips not to vote against the measure on the grounds that it won’t automatically result in any new cuts and that a future Labour government could amend the cap as it sees fit.
The policy won’t take effect until 2015-16 (the limit has been set at £119.5bn for that year) and is largely intended as a political trap for the opposition. It’s for this reason that Ed Balls and other shadow cabinet ministers have been unambiguous in their support for the measure today. It’s also why some MPs, most notably Diane Abbott, who made a fiercely critical speech during the debate, couldn’t stomach voting with the Tories. At a time when many of their constituents are suffering the effects of benefits cuts, they regard Osborne’s attempt to perpetuate a false divide beteen “strivers” and “scroungers” as politics of the lowest kind.
Here’s a list of the 13 Labour MPs who voted against the cap:
Diane Abbott
Ronnie Campbell
Katy Clark
Michael Connarty
Jeremy Corbyn
Kelvin Hopkins
Glenda Jackson
John McDonnell
George Mudie
Linda Riordan
Dennis Skinner
Tom Watson
Mike Wood
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