Scrapping of two-child benefit cap closer as Bridget Phillipson attacks ‘spiteful’ policy

Bridget Phillipson said if she won the Labour contest she would have a mandate to make tackling child poverty the government’s ‘moral mission’. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Ministers are a step closer to abandoning the two-child benefit cap after Downing Street’s preferred candidate to be Labour’s deputy leader said the policy was “spiteful” and had “punished and pushed children into hardship”.

Bridget Phillipson said the cap’s abolition was “on the table” – the clearest sign yet that Downing Street is preparing to scrap the controversial policy.