Sir Keir Starmer said he would not be “deflected” by Labour rebels after he stripped the whip from several MPs. The Prime Minister suspended the whip from Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff.

Keir Starmer has suspended four Labour MPs for persistent breaches of party discipline, it has emerged. The prime minister decided to lay down the law after dozens of his own backbenchers rebelled against the government’s welfare cuts.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suspended at least four Labour MPs who have had a record of voting against the government in parliament. The Labour backbenchers to have been barred from the party include Neil Duncan-Jordan,