Labour MPs who missed vote warned by whips
Labour MPs who without permission missed a controversial vote on removing the winter fuel payment from most pensioners have been stripped of potential privileges and warned about their future conduct, the Guardian has been told.
One of the MPs called the whips’ behaviour “feudal”, but the overall response to the rebellion has been seemingly less severe than in July, when seven MPs lost the Labour whip for rebelling. Those MPs had the whip suspended for six months for voting in favour of an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
The one Labour MP who voted in favour of last Tuesday’s oppositionforced motion to block the change to winter fuel payments, Jon Trickett, appears to have kept the party whip.
Neither Trickett nor the government whips’ office has commented since the vote. He is still listed on the parliamentary website as a Labour MP, meaning any sanction against him was apparently less stringent.
A total of 52 Labour MPs did not vote in the motion, but government sources said all but 12 had been given permission to miss the vote.
The whips’ response to those who failed to vote without permission has been, in several cases, to send a letter saying their future behaviour would be monitored and that they would be denied privileges, such as help to get places on select committees.
The rebels were told they should raise any future worries with the whips’ office or ministers. Whips also told MPs they were not allowed to discuss the winter fuel vote and its aftermath with journalists.
The scale of Labour disquiet over the decision to block the annual winter fuel payment – either £200 or £300, depending on age – to all pensioners except those with the lowest incomes is known to be notably wider than the 12 MPs who abstained without permission. Some backbenchers who had publicly opposed the policy were given permission to miss the vote, with some saying whips had even encouraged them to find a reason to be absent.
Some cabinet ministers had privately expressed significant concerns about the decision, announced by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, in July to remove the payment from all pensioners who do not claim incomebased benefits such as pension credit.
One MP who received the whips’ letter said they felt it had misjudged the depth of feeling over the issue: “Quite frankly the letter is feudal and completely misplaced when people are abstaining to protect very vulnerable people.”
The government whips’ office and Trickett were contacted for comment.