In reality, the rebellion from Labour over the welfare the cap was was much higher than just the 13 MPs who defied Ed’s whip. Taking out the Deputy Speakers, a further 37 Labour MPs abstained in the vote yesterday. Taking the total number of Labour MPs not backing the welfare cap to 50.
The list is peppered with hard lefties, yet notable abstentions include Tristram Hunt and Liam Byrne, who has talked the tough welfare game in the past:
- Abrahams, Debbie
- Anderson, Dave
- Barron, Kevin
- Bayley, Hugh
- Byrne, Liam
- Cryer, John
- Cunningham, Tony
- Donohoe, Brian
- Glass, Pat
- Godsiff, Roger
- Greenwood, Lilian
- Hamilton, Fabian
- Heyes, David
- Hunt, Tristram
- Kaufman, Gerald
- Lavery, Ian
- Mahmood, Khalid
- Mccann, Michael
- Mcgovern, Alison
- Mcgovern, Jim
- Meacher, Michael
- Meale, Alan
- Mearns, Ian
- Mitchell, Austin
- Morris, Grahame
- O’Donnell, Fiona
- Owen, Albert
- Pearce, Teresa
- Phillipson, Bridget
- Seabeck, Alison
- Sheridan, Jim
- Spellar, John
- Thomas, Gareth R
- Vaz, Keith
- Williamson, Chris
- Winnick, David
The member of for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath was also absent.