“You won’t have to wait much longer…”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signalled that the two-child benefit cap could be lifted, ahead of the budget taking place later this month.
Pressure has grown on the government, not only from anti-poverty campaigners and charities to lift the cap, but also among its own MPs. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also called on the government to lift the cap.
The two-child benefit cap was introduced by Osborne as Conservative chancellor. It bars families from claiming the £292.81-a-month child element of universal credit for third and subsequent children born after April 6, 2017.
According to the Child Poverty Action Group, every day it remains in place, 109 more children are pulled into poverty by the policy. If the policy were scrapped, 350,000 children would be lifted from poverty instantly, at a cost of £2bn. The depth of poverty would be reduced for another 800,000 children.
Speaking to Dr Amir Khan from the Lorraine show, the Prime Minister said: “I can tell you in no uncertain terms that I am determined to drive child poverty down, it is what the last Labour government did and it’s one of the things we’re proudest of, I am personally determined that is what we’re going to do, you won’t have to wait much longer to see what the measures are.”
Asked if that involved lifting the two-child cap, Starmer replied: “You won’t have to wait much longer but I wouldn’t be telling you that we’re going to drive down child poverty if I wasn’t clear that we will be taking a number of measures in order to do so.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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