“We know what his real priorities are…Reform don’t care about working class kids or their families.”
Nigel Farage is facing growing criticism after saying he will oppose the Labour government’s decision to lift the two child benefit cap, which will see hundreds of thousands of children across the country lifted out of poverty.
During the last budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the removal of the cap which she said would benefit 560,000 families by an average of £5,310 per year and reduce child poverty by 450,000, according to the OBR.
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.
Lifting the cap is the single most effective measure undertaken by the government to lift children out of poverty.
However, Farage says Reform now oppose lifting the cap, despite the party previously committing to abolishing the policy.
Far from being anti-establishment, Farage supports a Tory policy to push hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.
Reacting to his decision to U-turn, the TUC’s general secretary Paul Nowak slammed Farage for not giving a toss about working class kids and saying his U-turn was ‘proof positive you can’t trust a word the man says’.
He went on to say: “70% of the kids who live in poverty have at least one parent who goes out to work.
“Lifting the two child cap will lift hundreds of thousands of those kids out of poverty and directly support working parents.
“It’s something that unions have long campaigned for but Farage disagrees, a man happy to see kids languish in poverty while taking millions in donations from off-shore crypto bros.
“We know what his real priorities are…Reform don’t care about working class kids or their families.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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