Rutherglen candidate would not be disciplined for rebelling over two-child cap, suggests Angela Rayner

The deputy leader of UK Labour said Michael Shanks was ‘right to raise issues’

The deputy leader of UK Labour has suggested the party’s candidate in a key by-election in Scotland would not be disciplined for rebelling over the two-child benefit cap.

Angela Rayner said Michael Shanks, who is standing in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, would not be the first Labour MP to defy the whip.

Mr Shanks previously said he would vote to abolish the cap, but Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said scrapping it will not be party policy going into the next general election.

Angela Rayner and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Picture: John Devlin

However, Ms Rayner indicated Labour is examining the rape clause, which forces women to declare their child was conceived as a result of rape to be entitled to benefits. She said it was "appalling", adding: "We will be looking at that and we will be putting our priorities forward at the general election."

Ms Rayner was visiting the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries training college in Glasgow with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Asked if Mr Shanks would be suspended from Labour if he voted against the two-child benefit cap on a three-line whip in Westminster, she said: "That's not how we work in the Labour Party. Obviously, if backbench MPs vote against the whip then – they do do that from time to time, and they have done that. Obviously our frontbench MPs, it's slightly different for us because we are the frontbench and we're in that field.

"But he's right to raise issues. The Labour Party and MPs raise issues all the time. I raise issues, I argue my case. But we have a collective responsibility as a shadow cabinet to take things forward, and we're a government-in-waiting, and that means that we have to make difficult choices because we can't fund everything, because the Tories crashed the economy and they've left us in a very difficult place."

She added: "That's not saying that we haven't got a child poverty strategy, and as we get into government, as we grow the economy and have more money, that we can't do things to help and alleviate difficulties. But we can't do everything at once."

Ms Rayner said Mr Shanks "wouldn't be the first Labour MP to vote against a vote that we've had in Parliament". She said: "He will be the voice of the people that he's there to represent, and I understand that."

The SNP has accused Labour of being "engulfed in division and disharmony" over the two-child cap and other issues, including gender recognition reform. The two parties are fighting to win the by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, which is expected to take place in October.

It was called after constituents voted to sack the former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier, who was suspended from Westminster for breaking Covid rules.