Skip to main content
Seven newly elected Labour MPs among WASPI rebels
Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners stage a protest on College Green in Westminster, London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the Houses of Parliament, October 30, 2024

SEVEN newly elected Labour MPs were among those defying government whips to vote for state pension compensation for Waspi women this week.

They included Terry Jermy, who vanquished former PM Liz Truss in South-West Norfolk at the last general election.

The rebellion, while of no practical impact, is an indication of resistance to the government as it pursues cuts at the expense of working people.

The other six new MPs voting for Waspi justice were Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool), Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury), Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole), Chris Hinchliff (North-East Hertfordshire), Brian Leishman (Alloa & Grangemouth) and Steve Witherden (Montgomery & Glyndwr).

They joined longer-serving Labour backbenchers Emma Lewell-Buck from South Shields, Grimsby’s Melanie Onn and Jon Trickett from Hemsworth.

Independent Alliance, Green, Plaid Cymru, Liberal Democrat and Ulster Unionist MPs, as well as two Tories, also backed the Bill championed by the Scottish National Party’s Stephen Flynn.

While some of those rebelling have no great form on the left, many such MPs ducked the division.

Notably, only two of the seven Labour MPs suspended for opposing the two-child benefit cap last summer voted against the government this time. 

The whips are presently discussing which of them should be readmitted, and how soon.

Zarah Sultana and Apsana Begum, both of whom voted for Waspi justice, are thought unlikely to be reinstated in the parliamentary party and their fresh defiance indicates their indifference on the matter.

The willingness of the other five to abstain — Labour’s official position — may signal that they are prioritising restoring their PLP membership in good standing.

Labour’s whips had only imposed the lightest form of discipline — a one-line whip — on the vote in a bid to defuse its significance, and have therefore not sanctioned rebels.

One leading left MP said he abstained because of unwillingness to back a SNP manoeuvre.

The party was indeed angling for advantage in pressing a vote with the purpose of exposing Labour MPs, as they have previously done on issues from Gaza to welfare.

To wit, they seek to reverse Labour’s gains at their expense at the last election. On all polling evidence, it appears to be working.

Morning Star Conference - Race, Sex & Class
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Supporters outside the High Court in central London, during a hearing over a last-minute block on the Government from concluding its deal on the Chagos Islands, May 22, 2025
Chagos Islands / 22 May 2025
22 May 2025
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves speaks with the media at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, May 15, 2025
Economy / 22 May 2025
22 May 2025
protest
Economy / 21 May 2025
21 May 2025

Starmer forced to rethink controversial cuts after uproar

angela rayner
Economy / 21 May 2025
21 May 2025

Rayner’s call for tax rises over cuts falls on deaf ears

Similar stories
Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners s
Britain / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South, (centre) on a TSSA pic
Britain / 23 January 2025
23 January 2025
Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners s
Britain / 23 January 2025
23 January 2025