One year ago, Labour suspended seven MPs for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Zarah Sultana was among them, openly calling the policy cruel, poverty-inducing and morally indefensible. At the time, Labour’s leadership insisted the MPs had undermined party unity and crossed a red line.
Now, after a year of internal tension and growing pressure, the government is preparing to abolish the very same policy. And the biggest question being asked across Westminster is simple: what on earth is happening inside Downing Street?
The two-child limit has long been one of the most criticised welfare rules in the UK. Economists, charities and anti-poverty campaigners have repeatedly warned that it pushes families into hardship and punishes children for circumstances outside their control. The MPs who defied the whip last year were not acting on impulse; they were taking a principled stand they had long been transparent about.
But the political context has shifted dramatically over the past twelve months. And that shift has not come from Labour’s internal debate, but from the rapid, unexpected rise of the Green Party.
The Greens Are Surging and Labour Is Feeling the Pressure
The Green Party has skyrocketed in momentum. Membership has exploded. Polls now place them level with or ahead of the Conservatives. In some demographic groups, the Greens are beating Labour outright. And much of this growth has come from younger voters, left-leaning Labour members and people who feel politically abandoned.
For the first time in decades, Labour faces a serious threat from a party to its left. That threat has a name. Zack Polanski.
Zack Polanski Has Shifted the Political Landscape
Under Polanski’s leadership, the Greens have become disciplined, focused and unusually united. He communicates calmly and clearly, has rapidly expanded the membership base, and has turned the Greens into a credible national political force. He has shown none of the internal chaos or factionalism that Labour has struggled with.
And crucially, Polanski has been unapologetically firm on ending the two-child limit. The Greens have made it a moral and political priority.
The result is that thousands of voters who once felt trapped between Labour loyalty and Labour compromise have begun shifting to the Greens. That shift is now large enough to threaten Labour’s dominance in key seats and national polling.
It is impossible to ignore the timing. Labour resisted scrapping the policy for years. It suspended its own MPs for supporting abolition. Yet only when the Greens began surging, pulling Labour voters with them, did Downing Street suddenly reconsider its position.
Did Labour Change Course Because It Was Losing the Argument and Losing Voters?
Many insiders believe so. Labour is well aware that the two-child limit is deeply unpopular, especially among younger voters and working families. They are also watching the Greens chip away at Labour’s base in urban areas, university towns and increasingly across the country.
If Labour thinks it could be displaced in these areas, it will act. And that is exactly what seems to have happened.
By scrapping the two-child cap now, Labour can try to neutralise one of the Greens’ strongest moral arguments. But the reversal exposes a much bigger problem for Downing Street: the party that once suspended its MPs for opposing the policy is now adopting the very stance those MPs took.
A U-Turn That Raises Hard Questions
If abolishing the cap is the right thing to do today, was it not the right thing to do a year ago? And if Labour is now shifting its position because it fears the Greens’ momentum, what does that say about who is really setting the moral agenda in British politics?
Zarah Sultana and the other suspended MPs acted out of principle. They voted to protect children. They voted to reduce poverty. They voted the way they said they always would. And they were punished for it.
Now the government is following exactly where they led. Yet the suspensions remain a stain on how Labour deals with internal dissent and moral clarity.
Labour’s U-Turn Shows the Greens Are Now Setting the Pace
Whether Labour admits it or not, the pressure created by the Greens’ rise has forced a rethink at the highest levels of government. Zack Polanski has built a movement strong enough to influence national policy from the outside. The Greens did not just win the argument. They changed the political landscape.
And now Labour is scrambling to catch up.
If Labour wants to restore trust, it should do more than scrap the two-child cap. It should acknowledge that the MPs it suspended were right all along, and that the party’s shift was driven not by principle but by political reality.
Until then, one truth remains clear: the Greens are no longer a fringe party. They are shaping the national debate. They are influencing government decisions. And they are proving that moral clarity still has power in British politics.