STEPHEN Flynn has called on Scottish Labour MPs to back his amendment to end the two-child benefit cap.
In Labour's first major test on their pledge to eradicate child poverty, Flynn (below) has received cross-party support for his amendment set to be voted upon on Tuesday.
The SNP Westminster Leader’s call comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar previously supported scrapping the cap.
With the crunch vote this week, the amendment is backed by the SNP, Plaid Cymru, Green Party, SDLP, Alliance Party and independent MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (below).
The two-child cap fallout has dominated the Labour Government's first King’s Speech after Keir Starmer launched a “child poverty taskforce” instead of committing to scrapping the cap.
On Sunday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves repeated the party’s position that the cap would not be scrapped, whilst Labour MP Zarah Sultana said that doing so is “a matter of political will” and Labour “can fund this commitment if we want to.”
‘We’ll vote to do the right thing by those bairns’
New figures published by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) found 1.6 million children are impacted by the Labour government's two-child benefit cap - with families losing up to £3455 a year per child.
The charity found 300,000 children would be lifted out of poverty, and a further 700,000 would be in less deep poverty, if the two-child cap was abolished.
In June, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published its own analysis warning the two-child limit will affect 670,000 additional children by the end of this parliament unless it is scrapped.
Commenting, Flynn said: “We’ve worked constructively with other groups in Westminster to deliver a cross-party movement to scrap the child benefit cap but, sadly, no Labour MP from Scotland appears willing to join these efforts.
“Anas Sarwar and his Labour MPs in Scotland have said the cap should go, and our amendment gives them the opportunity to put those words into action – it’s a fairly easy test for them to pass should they wish to do so.
“The two-child cap was the Tories operating at their worst, so scrapping the cap would deliver on the promise made to the public for real change.
"Every child poverty charity in Scotland and beyond recognises that this policy penalises children and keeps them rooted in poverty. We’ll vote to do the right thing by those bairns and I would encourage other Scottish MPs to do likewise.”
Questioned about the pressure on Labour to lift the two-child benefit cap during an interview broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday morning, Reeves (below) said she was not willing to make any unfunded spending commitments.
She said on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “We were really clear during the election that we were not going to make spending commitments without being able to say where the money was going to come from.
“If we’re not able to say where the money is going to come from, we can’t promise to do it. That’s true when it comes to the two-child limit and anything else.
“Previous Labour governments have lifted kids out of poverty, it is what is in our DNA. We will do that, but I’m not willing to make unfunded commitments.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “As the PM has made clear, no child should be in poverty – and the Government is committed to developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty and give children the best start in life.
“The new ministerial taskforce will explore how we can use all the available levers across government to create an ambitious strategy, and we will continue to work closely with all of the devolved governments as we bring forward this urgent work.”
Scottish Labour have been contacted for comment.
