Sparks flew at tonight’s Parliamentary Labour party (PLP) meeting. Deputy leader Angela Rayner had been due to speak to MPs as part of an end of term pep talk. Instead, the ongoing row over Keir Starmer’s decision to maintain the two child benefit cap if Labour enters government dominated the entire session.
Rayner herself has previously labelled the cap ‘obscene and inhumane’ and she was forced to defend herself when those past comments were raised by backbench Labour MPs. The deputy leader told her colleagues that she stood by the tweet but that there was a need for fiscal responsibility. More surprising than Rayner’s remarks were the range of criticisms voiced at tonight’s meeting.
Both Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Rosie Duffield – two MPs with very different views on trans rights – were united in their condemnation of Labour’s U-turn. Russell-Moyle subsequently told journalists afterwards that while ‘no reassurances were given, I am confident it will go back to Keir.’
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