Coventry MP Zarah Sultana still suspended as other MPs reinstated to Labour

Four Labour MPs who were suspended for voting against the two-child benefits cap have been readmitted back into the Labour Party after six months.

The readmitted MPs include Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Richard Burgon, and Imran Hussain.

Three other Labour MPs who were considered “rebels” by the Labour Party leadership remain suspended from the party.

This includes former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Apsana Begum, and the MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana.

Sultana was reportedly not notified of the party’s decision to continue her suspension

Sultana was reportedly not notified of the party’s decision to continue her suspension. She took her disappointment to X, on which she posted: “I’ve just found out from this article that my whip still hasn’t been restored.”

The two-child benefits cap, a policy introduced in 2015 by George Osborne, has been condemned as a ‘key element’ of the Conservative Party’s austerity in the early 2010s. The cap denies families child benefits beyond a second child.

Figures ranging from the Archbishop of Canterbury and former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman have publicly called for the policy to be scrapped.

It would “lift 300,000 children out of poverty and mean 700,000 children are in less deep poverty”, according to the Child Poverty Action Group.

Despite a significant rebellion within its own ranks, Labour ruled out scrapping the policy.

Sultana has repeatedly clashed with the Labour government

Sultana has repeatedly clashed with the Labour government, stating on X that it “turns out speaking up for Palestine is still a punishable offence”.

Her recent criticisms include public condemnations of the leadership’s handling of Islamophobia within the party.

Her electoral success, going from a win with just 401 votes to spare in 2019 to a substantial margin of 10,000 in 2024, likely means she could be a force in Labour politics for some time.

Though still suspended from the party, her position as an independent comes at a time of unusual electoral success for unaffiliated MPs. Five independent MPs won seats in 2024, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, with whom Ms Sultana is closely affiliated.

For now, the fate of the remaining MPs, and whether the whip will be restored for them soon, remains uncertain.