RISHI Sunak has welcomed Labour leader Keir Starmer’s “newfound support” for punishing Tory welfare policies.
Stephen Flynn asked the Prime Minister on Wednesday whether he took “comfort” knowing the Conservatives’ “heinous” policy of limiting benefits for families with more than two children would be continued by the Labour Party, if they win the next election.
Sunak said he welcomed the Labour leader’s U-turn but said those opposed to it need not worry because Starmer had “never actually kept a promise that he’s made”.
Speaking at the final Prime Minister’s Questions before the summer break, Flynn said: “The two-child benefit cap as introduced by the Conservative Party has left 250,000 children living in poverty.
"So can I ask the Prime Minister, does he take comfort in the knowing that the heinous legacy of that policy will no longer just be protected by Conservative members but by Labour members, too?”
Sunak replied: “I welcome the Labour leader’s newfound support for our policy, even though he previously committed to a different approach.
"But what I would say to the honourable gentleman and indeed to the Labour frontbench, is that they don’t have to worry too much because given the Labour leader’s track record he’s never actually kept a promise that he’s made.”
Flynn again took aim at Starmer and his top team – saying there was a “shiver running along the Labour frontbench looking for a spine”.
“Voters in Scotland are used to child poverty under Tories, they almost expect it. But what they don’t expect, what they don’t expect is child poverty support from the Labour Party.
“If we look very closely right now, there is a shiver running along the Labour frontbench looking for a spine.
“But […] does this not tell us something much bigger? That for children living in poverty in Scotland, Westminster offers them no real change. It offers them no real hope.”
Sunak cited the reasoning for bringing in the policy, which was given by the then-chancellor George Osborne as a way of reducing the number of people out of work.
A study by the London School of Economics published last month found the policy had not increased employment levels but had pushed hundreds of thousands of families into poverty.
The policy limits how much parents with more than two children can claim in benefits.
Sunak said: “The best route out of poverty is through work and the best way to ensure that children do not grow up in poverty is to ensure that they do not grow up in a workless household.
“That’s why we’re focused on creating more jobs, with 200,000 more in Scotland since 2010 and hundreds of thousands fewer children across the United Kingdom growing up in a workless household.”
