The left-wing groups behind the motion say “not allowing this motion to be debated is a senseless act”
A motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap has been blocked from being discussed at Labour’s annual party conference at the end of the month.
The motion, submitted by Open Labour, Compass and Momentum, was rejected by the Labour Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) today.
CAC says that this is because it does not meet the required criteria. This includes it covering ‘more than one subject’ and ‘does not relate to a new issue not substantially covered in the NPF report’.
The organisations behind the motion deny that these objections hold and that say CAC has blocked the motion on tenuous procedural grounds.
The motion put forward by Mainstream’s founding organisations, Compass and Open Labour, with Momentum reads:
‘Conference calls on the Government to find the resources needed to abolish the two-child limit by:
- Allocating £3billion from a levy on the undertaxed online gaming and offshore betting industry
- Allocating a further £3billion from restoring the 8% levy on the profits of commercial banks or ceasing to pay interest on some of their funds held at the Bank of England’.
The left-wing groups say that “at a time when 4.5 million children in the UK live in poverty, a figure that is set to rise by 100,000 per year at current rates, not allowing this motion to be debated is a senseless act”.
They added that blocking the motion is “indicative of the hyperfactional culture at the top of the Labour Party that is stifling progress that will genuinely help people in need in Britain”.
The cap, introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, limits child welfare payments to the first two children born to a family.
In July 2024, the SNP put forward an amendment to scrap the cap.
Shortly after, Keir Starmer suspended seven Labour MPs who voted against the government and supported the amendment.
In a joint statement, Andy Burnham’s group Mainstream and Momentum wrote: “The blocking of motions on issues of key importance to Labour members and to the country – including the motion on child poverty supported by Compass, Momentum, and Open Labour – is yet another example of the hyper-factional style of party management causing Labour to sink in the polls and members to leave in droves.
“Crucial policy issues and Labour’s offer to the British people must be debated at Conference. Our party’s leadership is deeply mistaken if it thinks that the country is content to see children going hungry and suffering Dickensian levels of poverty.
“In a country as wealthy as the UK, allowing child poverty to worsen is a political choice. Labour must choose differently.”
Mainstream has launched a petition calling on the CAC to reverse its decision and allow delegates a fair debate on ending the two-child benefit limit.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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