Labour civil war erupts with Keir Starmer accused of 'macho virility test' by furious MP

Zarah Sultana has suggested she was the victim of a “macho virility test” after being suspended by Sir Keir Starmer for supporting an SNP motion to scrap the two-child benefit limit.

Sir Keir Starmer stripped her and six other MPs of the Labour whip for rebelling.

Asked what she thought of the decision, Ms Sultana said: “I’m not interested in playing up to this macho virility test that seems to be what people are talking about. It’s about the material conditions of 330,000 children living in poverty.”

She added: “This isn’t a game. This is about people’s lives. This is about the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of children living in unnecessary poverty, and the fact that we can make political decisions today that change this reality across the country, and we’re choosing not to do that.”

Pressed on whether she thought her suspension was a game, she said: “I’m saying that people might see Parliament and processes as things that they don’t agree with, and in fact, I am responding to something that is what I should do as a constituency MP.”

Losing the whip means the MPs are suspended from the parliamentary party and will now sit as independent MPs.

Nearly all of the rebels were allies of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP and put his name to the SNP motion.

Ms Sultana said she "slept well knowing that I took a stand against child poverty".

She added: "It is the right thing to do and I am glad I did it."

The decision to remove the whip is an early show of force from the new government.

This is their first rebellion. Even though it is a small one, Labour whips are trying to send a message to MPs that dissent will not be tolerated in votes.

However, there are many more Labour MPs who are opposed to the two-child benefit cap which limits state benefits – Universal Credit and child tax credits – to two children per family.

Jonathan Ashworth accused the seven Labour MPs suspended for rebelling over the two-child benefit cap of “gesture” politics.

The former Labour MP, who played a prominent role in his party’s election media campaign but was unseated in the general election, said: “They knew that this amendment was never going to pass because of the commanding majority Keir Starmer has.

“To join with the odds and sods, who are pretty impotent in Parliament, they knew there was no chance of this amendment passing. It was a gesture. That’s not how you change policy. You don’t change policy by gestures, you change policy by engaging with the policymaking structures.”

He continued: “I don’t think any of us should be surprised that Labour MPs who were … not defending the first (Labour) King’s Speech for 14 years would lead to this disciplining.”