KEIR Starmer faces his first threat of rebellion in the Commons today over calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The Prime Minister previously ruled out axing the policy, which limits the amount of benefits people can claim if they have more than two children, citing funding issues.
An SNP amendment to the King's Speech was selected today calling for the policy to be ditched, backed by a number of Labour MPs and lumping pressure on the new UK Government.
Here is a (growing) list of Labour MPs who have previously spoken out against the two-child benefit cap:
- Rosie Duffield (Labour MP for Canterbury) said in a Sunday Times column that the two-child benefit cap amounts to “social cleansing” and is an “anti-feminist and unequal piece of legislation”.
- Helen Hayes (Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood) also spoke out against the policy in a Commons debate, saying: “The child poverty taskforce and the government must follow the evidence including from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Trussell Trust and a wide range of experts showing a clear correlation between the two-child cap on benefits and increased child poverty. I hope the government will consider this evidence.”
- Meg Hillier (Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch) told the BBC’s Westminster Hour: “Well, I was never comfortable about having the child benefit cap come in. Personally, I’d be lobbying for a lifting of that.”
- Zarah Sultana (Labour MP for Coventry South) said in a Commons debate: “Everyone in this chamber knows the evidence is overwhelming. The single most effective way of tackling child poverty is immediately lifting 300,000 children out of it by scrapping this cruel policy.”
- John McDonnell (Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington and former shadow chancellor) tweeted: “It’s pretty clear that we now need an honest and fundamental discussion in the Labour party about child poverty, its causes and the impact of the policies introduced by the Tories, including the two-child limit, because it’s obvious some in the party don’t fully appreciate its impact.”
- Kim Johnson (Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside) said the “punitive policy needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs”.
