Not possible to scrap two-child benefit cap because of economy, minister says
Abolishing the two-child benefit cap is not currently possible because of the economic circumstances, a UK Labour minister has said.
Labour has faced consistent pressure to scrap the limit since before the election, from charities and its own backbenchers.
Calls to abolish the two-child limit come against a background of rising child poverty, with more than four million children now living in low-income households.
Commons Leader Lucy Powell pointed to Labour’s proposals for a ministerial taskforce, aimed at establishing a child poverty strategy, when challenged over the cap.
Unacceptable
During business questions on Thursday, Labour backbencher Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) said: “Forty-seven per cent of children in my Liverpool Riverside constituency are living in poverty.
“That’s nearly one in two children and I’m sure the Leader of the House will agree with me that that is unacceptable.
“And while I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday for the taskforce, it did not mention the removal of a two child cap.”
Ms Powell said she understands this is “an issue very close to her heart”.
She added: “As an incoming Labour Government, we are absolutely committed to tackling child poverty and all the root causes of child poverty, which is why the Prime Minister announced the Government taskforce looking at these matters yesterday.
“We were clear in our manifesto that the economic circumstances do not currently allow for us to abolish the cap.
“Economic stability is the single biggest thing we can do to ensure that children don’t fall into poverty, because when the economy crashes, it’s the poorest in society who pay the heaviest price.”
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Clark of Kent ain’t bothered about a few million kids going hungry, here or elsewhere…
Perfectly possible. Raise taxes on the rich.
The likes of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft could also be a source of significant tax payments.
The whole economic rationale of Labour’s approach is shot full of holes. The £1.7b needed to bring all children in the UK out of poverty is easily affordable. It is shameful for Reeves and Starmer to prate on about lack of money while children and their families are starving. So easy to find billions to fund weapons that cannot be used, and to go easy on our wonderful illionaires (sic), so difficult to meet real needs… When the public understands the truth about the government’s ability to generate real wealth, to restructure taxes and to fund the repair of the… Read more »
I concur with your argument, but I don’t think that ‘Annibyniaeth nawr!’ will cut it. Far too many people have thinking that’s constrained by the propaganda spread by those in power. Whilst they may well make the link between the rich getting richer while they get poorer, many are often to be heard coming out with nonsense such as the country being bankrupt and not able to afford to abolish child poverty (or indeed, poverty in general) build lots of social housing (the only kind needed) and investing in new the new eco-friendly industries needed to take us forward. So,… Read more »
Thanks for your comment, Padi Phillips. My point was that there won’t be “a Welsh Government under the lash from the Senedd” with sufficient backbone. There are some talented Labour MSs but collectively will be unable, first, to agree and, second, to leverage anything for Cymru worth having from the Starmer Government. It is only after independence that we will be able to adequately address real needs – food, shelter, income, health and care and education. Decades of second class treatment of Cymru by Westminster is well-established and will not change given Reeves’ foolish fiscal rules and counter-productive growth strategy.… Read more »