Wythenshawe’s Labour MP, Mike Kane, has abstained in the vote in the first debate in parliament over the government’s Welfare Reform Bill, within a fortnight of heckling the Chancellor over £12 billion of cuts which will hit 60 per cent of families in the town.

The bill, which will cap the total benefit entitlement for a family at £385 a week as well as slash child and tax credits for low paid workers, was opposed by 48 Labour MPs, who defied an order from their acting party leader Harriet Harman not to vote.

Mr Kane voted for a Labour bid to halt the bill whilst supporting the benefit cap. But when the amendment was defeated, the MP towed the party line by remaining neutral and abstained in the final vote on the bill.

The Wythenshawe MP was reprimanded by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons during the budget speech on July 8th when he and two other MPs tried to drown out Chancellor George Osborne as he tried to announce cuts.

He said he was happy to be be part of  “a gang of three standing up to a gang of 300 Tory MPs whose cuts will impoverish the people of Wythenshawe.” Continue reading “Wythenshawe MP abstains in vote on Welfare Reform and Work Bill as 48 Labour MPs defy party leader and vote against it” →