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.
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