Labour doubles down on two-child benefit cap

The Independent reports that Rachel Reeves has doubled down on Labour’s opposition to scrapping the two-child benefit cap, highlighting the £3bn annual price tag of the measure.

The paper says that the chancellor came under pressure over the limit, which prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017. Scrapping the policy would lift an estimated 300,000 children out of poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group

Reeves was asked about opposition to the George Osborne-era cap from Labour heavyweights including Gordon Brown and Andy Burnham, but said she could not make “unfunded spending commitments”:

Labour is facing growing pressure over its refusal to commit to repealing the limit, with left-wing backbenchers prepared to rebel and back an amendment to the King’s Speech on the topic.

The SNP has tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech to scrap the two-child cap, which is backed by the Greens, the SDLP, Plaid Cymru, the Alliance party and independent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn.

Meanwhile 35 MPs have signed a Commons motion by Labour’s Kim Johnson calling for the limit to be axed. They include fellow Labour MPs Zarah Sultana, John McDonnell, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Bell Ribeiro-Addy.

The motion claims that if scrapped, the move would immediately lift 300,000 children out of poverty and calls on the government to act.

It referenced recent figures showing around 1.6m children are missing out on thousands of pounds every year due to the policy.

The damning new figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that 1.3 million children are living in a universal credit household and 270,000 living in a child tax credit household.

This should be fundaemental for Labour, who are supposed to be committed to tackling child poverty. That they continue to resist this straightforward reform suggests that the change we have been promised is a long way away.