The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday July 24 2024 #Labour #BenefitCap

The Scotsman

The Scotsman head of news Dale Miller speaks to Westminster correspondent Alexander Brown about the latest news in Parliament

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Wednesday.

00:12My name is Dale Miller.

00:13I'm Head of News at the Scotsman and I'm joined by Westminster Correspondent Alexander Brown.

00:19And Alex, I'm going to get you to talk through the front page because your byline is on our

00:24splash today.

00:26There's a big vote in the Commons.

00:27Talk us through.

00:29So last night there was the vote on an SNP amendment on the two-child benefit cap.

00:35There was a minor rebellion for the Labour Party, but what could have been a huge headache

00:39for Keir Starmer actually went pretty well with just seven MPs defying the whip to vote

00:45to immediately end the two-child benefit cap.

00:48The SNP had brought this and been campaigning on it for quite some time, but the problem

00:53for the Labour Party is so have many of its own MPs.

00:55Michael Shanks, now an energy minister, Scottish Labour MP, had previously said Rishi Sunak

01:00has to scrap this horrible cap, this shameful cap that puts children further into poverty.

01:07And last night he had to go and vote for it because that's Labour policy.

01:10And I think for the SNP, this is the best thing that could have happened for them.

01:15They immediately can say Scottish Labour said one thing and did another and they do not

01:19value you and they do not care about poverty.

01:22For the Labour Party, they know this is an issue.

01:24And everyone in the Labour Party, if you speak to them, wants to get rid of the two-child

01:28benefit cap. And a lot of them who maybe voted for it last night still want to get rid of

01:32the two-child benefit cap.

01:34But they're just waiting until the finances are better.

01:36And the problem is, when are the finances better?

01:38How do you quantify that?

01:40Is that by conference, is it six months?

01:42Is inflation going to be better by then?

01:44How do you grow the economy in time to do it?

01:46And it's this simple thing that can immediately lift hundreds of thousands of children out

01:51of poverty and Labour aren't going to do it.

01:54It's a it's a real mess.

01:56As for the rebels, there were only seven, which is not surprising given the fact that

02:00the Labour whips are saying anyone who votes against the government.

02:03And bear in mind, this is Labour's first test in government as a new government.

02:08Anyone who voted against the whip would lose it and be suspended.

02:11So we have seen seven MPs suspended from the Labour Party.

02:15But I don't think Keir Starmer will lose any headaches over who they are.

02:18John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor and a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, was never

02:23but had already was very outspoken on the whip on this policy and wasn't necessarily

02:27ever been supportive of Starmer.

02:29Same for people like Zara Sultana, Nadia Witton.

02:32It's the far left of the party or Richard Burgundy, people close to Corbyn who do not

02:37value or appreciate Starmer as a leader and think the party needs to be moved further

02:42to the left. So it felt like a bullet dodged, even if it's not a nice thing to have done.

02:49So, Alex, was this an easy one for Starmer to get tough on, given that the individuals

02:53that did rebel, you know, was that easy or will it actually be viewed as a positive move?

03:00I mean, will people within his party take notice that, you know, look, if you don't

03:04vote with the government, then you will face disciplinary action.

03:08I mean, it speaks to the strength of the government, that an issue that most people

03:11fundamentally disagree with, they voted the other way because they were back to the idea

03:16that the Labour government has to get the finances in order to do things first, rather

03:20than being bounced into it.

03:22And I think the best thing for the government was there was a separate amendment.

03:25So this is an SNP amendment that got voted on.

03:27But there was also a Labour amendment that could have been selected from Kim Johnson,

03:31who had an MP for Liverpool, which had a lot more support, I think from 40 odd Labour

03:34MPs that signed it. If that amendment had been selected, I think there'd be a bigger

03:38rebellion. As it is, Labour MPs are less inclined to vote for an SNP vote than a Labour

03:46one because it's, you know, they see it as party political.

03:49This was a strong evening for Simon's leadership.

03:51You can disagree with the merits of what happened, but he suspended people.

03:55It shows, you know, he's not willing to have any kind of dissent in the party.

04:00And while there were some people abstaining, it's not enough to be in any way, it's

04:05just a threat to his leadership.

04:06And it kind of just reinforces his authority, which is already very strong after such a

04:11resounding election win.

04:13And Alex, turning to the Tories, we've finally got someone that's put their hand up

04:18and has said they're going to run for the leadership.

04:20It's James Cleverley, who I think many of our readers and viewers right now would know.

04:26But what's the actual process?

04:28I mean, I do know the final date is November.

04:31It seems like a long, long way away, Alex.

04:34Well, they want a lot.

04:34They need a long time because they need to make sure they get it right.

04:37I mean, after Liz Truss, who was a complete disaster, and Rishi Sunak managed to take

04:42the terrible polling and essentially maintain it and never particularly approve it, despite

04:49everything, they need that long time.

04:51As for the process, previously, it would be that you would get down to a final two.

04:55MPs would vote and then MPs would go and vote for the candidates.

04:59And the one with the least votes would be eliminated until we come to a final two.

05:04There's hostings and that goes to a Tory membership.

05:07And that's not the case in what I think is clearly an attempt to prevent what much like Labour

05:13did in the leadership on the race for Starmer, almost like a Corbyn clause.

05:17Instead of having it just be two and then go to the membership, it goes to four.

05:22That goes to the membership.

05:24And once it goes to four, MPs can then narrow it down to two.

05:27So we go down to four.

05:30Membership can have a view and express what they think.

05:33But really, it's the parliamentary party that decides.

05:35The parliamentary party will narrow it down to two and then the membership decides.

05:39So say you had people both on the right of the party, say Sweller-Braverman, who I don't

05:44know if she's going to get enough MPs to back her.

05:47She's not very popular in the parliamentary party.

05:49And Kemi Badenoch, who we'll be announcing shortly, of course, said that she was having

05:52a very public breakdown.

05:54If she was on the list and so was someone else, the party would get rid of them to have

05:59more sensible MPs to increase their chances of winning.

06:02So it's the parliamentary party taking back control, to coin a phrase, from its membership

06:09who have repeatedly shown they're far more right wing than the rest of the country.

06:14You can read all the latest about the vote that took place in the Commons around the

06:20two-child benefit cap, as well as movements on the Tory leadership.

06:23And just how Suzuki-Stama performs today, Alex, I know you'll be blogging about that

06:28throughout today.

06:29That's all at Scotsman.com.

06:31You can follow us on X Facebook and Instagram and go out and buy a copy of the paper

06:37tomorrow. There will be plenty on the UK government latest.

06:40Thanks for joining us.

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