UK's Starmer suspends several Labour rebels

Starmer was forced to backtrack on plans to slash disability and sickness benefits earlier this month after dozens of his own MPs threatened to vote against the proposals.

MPs Brian Leishman, Neil Duncan-Jordan, and Rachael Maskell said they had been suspended while the Times newspaper reported that Chris Hinchliff had suffered the same fate.

All four voted against the welfare reforms on July 1 after Starmer made his authority-sapping climbdown to avoid a humiliating defeat in parliament.

Leishman's office confirmed to AFP that the Scottish MP had been temporarily suspended from the party.

Duncan-Jordan, the representative for Poole in southern England, said he understood that voting against the government "could come at a cost, but I couldn't support making disabled people poorer".

Starmer has endured a difficult first year in power and has made several damaging U-turns in recent weeks.

Political scientist Steven Fielding said the purge was a bid by Starmer to reinforce party discipline.

"He wants to send a signal to all the others that rebelled over the welfare bill and have rebelled on other things that, 'Okay, you've got away with this one, but if you keep going, this is going to be your fate,'" Fielding told AFP.

But the University of Nottingham politics professor added it was a risky strategy considering the large numbers of lawmakers who had opposed the welfare reforms.

"I think he's going about it in the wrong way. He needs to talk (to) and understand why the MPs are doing this," Fielding told AFP.

Labour did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Starmer's popularity has plummeted since he won a landslide general election result in July last year, ending 14 consecutive years of Conservative rule.

Labour now trails Eurosceptic Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party in many national polls, although the next election is likely four years away.

In June, the government reversed a policy to scrap a winter heating benefit for millions of pensioners, following widespread criticism and another rebellion from its own MPs.

The same month, Starmer -- a former chief state prosecutor in England and Wales -- announced a national inquiry focused on a UK child sex exploitation scandal after previously resisting calls.

The prime minister has a massive majority of about 160 MPs, meaning he should be able to force whatever legislation he wants through parliament.

But some in the party complain of a disconnect between Starmer's leadership, which is focused on combatting the rise of Reform, and Labour's traditional centre-left principles.

Confirming she had been suspended, Maskell urged Starmer to engage with his backbenchers, saying she wanted to see "bridges built" and this would "make him a better prime minister".