LABOUR have been handed an ultimatum by the SNP if they do not include plans to drop the “shameful” two-child cap in the King’s Speech this week.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has confirmed his party will table an amendment to end the policy if it does not appear in Labour’s legislative programme.
In a letter on Monday, Flynn urged Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to instruct his MPs in Scotland to support abolishing the cap which is "pushing thousands of Scottish children into poverty".
The SNP said scrapping the cap is "the essential first step" but the Labour Party "must then take further bold action if it is to eradicate child poverty”.
Flynn said: "The two-child cap is pushing thousands of Scottish children into poverty - and scrapping it is the bare minimum the Labour Party government must do if it is serious about tackling poverty.
"I urge Keir Starmer to include it in his programme for government this week but, if he fails, the SNP will lay an amendment to abolish it immediately. It is shameful and it must go now.
"Scrapping the two-child cap is the essential first step but it will not eliminate child poverty in itself. Once it is scrapped, Keir Starmer must then take further bold action to eradicate child poverty - including matching the SNP government's Scottish Child Payment UK-wide by raising the child element of Universal Credit by £26.70 per child, per week across the UK.
"For every step Scotland takes forward on child poverty, Westminster cuts are dragging us back. The moment Keir Starmer stepped into Downing Street, the Tory two-child cap became the Labour Party two child cap.
“I urge him to do the right thing and scrap it without delay.”
In his letter, Flynn cited how the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned 250,000 children will be impacted by the cap next year with the total number reaching 670,000 by the end of the next parliament.
Alison Graham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, has said the policy is the biggest driver of child deprivation.
The two-child cap prevents parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for a third child, with a few exemptions.
One of these exemptions is what’s generally referred to as the “rape clause”. If a parent can prove a child was born as a result of "non-consensual conception", they may qualify to receive the benefit.
The UK Government was accused of forcing victims of rape to endure further trauma as a result.
The cap, which came into effect in April 2017, was among changes to the benefits system which were announced by then chancellor George Osborne in 2015.
The number of households affected by the cap has increased every year since the policy was introduced, going from 71,000 UK-wide in 2017 to 450,000 in 2024.
The Resolution Foundation think tank found that six out of 10 families affected by the two-child limit were already in work.
Flynn added: “With an enormous Westminster majority it would be simple for your government to scrap the cap immediately but that is ultimately a political choice and it requires politicians, across parties, to demand better.
“I have been clear that I am willing to work together for the betterment of the people of Scotland, and this would clearly be a good place for us to begin such work.”
