Following the state opening of parliament, the House of Commons has been debating the contents of the king’s speech (referred to as the debate on the address). This unfolds over the course of several days and is effectively a debate on the new Labour government’s legislative agenda for the next 12 months.

During the final votes in this debate, prime minister Keir Starmer suffered his first rebellion as several of his MPs voted against the government (and several more abstained) on a vote to lift the cap on child benefits that restricts support to a family’s first two children and no subsequent siblings. The vote was on an amendment put forward by the Scottish National Party, which has called for the cap to be removed.

Since before the election, Starmer and his chancellor Rachel Reeves have insisted that they would like to remove the cap but do not currently have the money to do so.

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The rebellion was limited to seven Labour MPs and in truth there was very little chance of the amendment........

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