{"id":250459,"date":"2025-11-08T02:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250459\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T02:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:42:14","slug":"whip-restored-to-labour-mps-who-rebelled-over-welfare-reforms-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250459\/","title":{"rendered":"Whip restored to Labour MPs who rebelled over welfare reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UKUK Parliament<\/p>\n

Chris Hinchliff said his focus remains on serving the communities of North East Hertfordshire <\/p>\n

Four MPs who were suspended from the Labour Party after rebelling against welfare reforms have had their whips restored.<\/p>\n

Chris Hinchliff, for North East Hertfordshire, was suspended alongside Neil Duncan-Jordan, MP for Poole, Brian Leishman, MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, and Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, after they voted against<\/a> the government’s Welfare Reform Bill in July.<\/p>\n

The BBC understands they had the whip restored after discussions with chief whip Jonathan Reynolds on Friday.<\/p>\n

Hinchliff said: “As ever, my focus remains on serving the communities of North East Hertfordshire and contributing to Labour’s historic mission to create a society that puts people and nature before profit.”<\/p>\n

Prior to their suspensions, all four MPs had rebelled against the government on several occasions. <\/p>\n

The group were among 47 Labour MPs who rebelled against the government’s proposed cuts to welfare in July and forced ministers to water down their plans.<\/p>\n

The rebellion undermined Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s authority, which was weakened after a series of policy reversals, including restoring the Winter Fuel Payment to millions of pensioners.<\/p>\n

At the time of their suspension<\/a>, Starmer said he was “determined” to change the country “for the better”. <\/p>\n

He said: “Therefore, we have to deal with people who repeatedly break the whip.”<\/p>\n

Hinchliff said he welcomed the whip back and added he had “constructive discussions” with the new chief whip in recent months.<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Neil Duncan-Jordan says he will continue to work hard for his Poole constituents<\/p>\n

Duncan-Jordan said he was “glad” to have the whip restored. <\/p>\n

“I’ve been part of the Labour and trade union movement for 40 years, so I’m pleased to have had the Labour whip restored today.<\/p>\n

“I’ll continue working hard for my constituents in Poole and standing up for Labour values – tackling poverty, raising living standards and building a fairer society,” he added. <\/p>\n

Maskell said she was “grateful” that she had been given the whip back. <\/p>\n

“I recognise the heavy responsibility on Labour to repair our public services and economy after 14 disastrous years and above all to lift people out of poverty. <\/p>\n

“With 4.5m children living in poverty tonight, I am focused on ensuring they have the very best start in life,” she added. <\/p>\n

The move comes as the party faces a difficult month in government with growing concern among Labour MPs that taxes will have to rise in the upcoming budget. <\/p>\n

Newly elected Labour deputy leader, Lucy Powell, urged the government not to raise taxes in the next budget. <\/p>\n

Powell told the BBC the government “should be following through” on its manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, national tax or VAT. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK Parliament Chris Hinchliff said his focus remains on serving the communities of North East Hertfordshire Four MPs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-250459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}