'You couldn’t make this stuff up.'
Reform faced another embarrassment last night after Tory defectors Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman ‘accidentally’ voted with Labour to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
The blunder happened after the pair, who both defected to Reform earlier this month, entered the ‘aye’ lobby and “got trapped as the doors were locked”.
Reform MPs Lee Anderson, Danny Kruger, Sarah Pochin, Andrew Rosindell and Richard Tice voted against the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill at second reading yesterday.
No vote was recorded for Nigel Farage.
Farage had previously said that his party supported lifting the limit, which prevented families from claiming Universal Credit or housing benefit for a third or subsequent child.
Reform then changed its policy, saying it would lift the two-child limit only for children born to British-born parents.
Earlier this month, Farage told journalists that Reform MPs would now vote against Labour’s bill to lift the limit. It appears that Reform’s newest recruits didn’t get the memo.
The vote to scrap the limit passed with 458 MPs voting in favour, and 104 against.
The error raised eyebrows given that Jenrick and Braverman have both been MPs for over a decade.
On X, Peter Stefanovic wrote: “You couldn’t make this stuff up. Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman accidentally voted with Labour to abolish the two-child benefit cap tonight after entering the wrong lobby!”.
Reacting on Reddit, one user quipped: “As ever, Reform getting the best and the brightest. You’d think that after many years in parliament they would have known how this works.”
Another commented: ”So if anyone wanted reminding, the reason why some Reform supporters were happy with these defections is because they thought the party was acquiring MPs who were familiar with the workings of parliament. Truly exceptional political calibre from Reform’s up-and-coming ministers.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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