The SNP has said that Keir Starmer cannot claim to be serious about tackling child poverty until he scraps the two-child benefit cap – after a member of his government revealed that they will not use October’s budget to get rid of the cruel penalty.
New MP Torsten Bell, who is the former chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, made the admission while speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival earlier this week.
When the SNP tabled an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap in the House of Commons last month, Labour MPs voted to keep it in place.
This included every single Labour MP in Scotland – many of whom had previously spoken out against the policy.
Recent analysis conducted by the Resolution Foundation found that there is a very strong link between local area child poverty rates and the share of children affected by the two-child limit.
The Foundation estimates that scrapping the policy would immediately lift nearly 500,000 children out of poverty.
The contrast with Scotland couldn’t be clearer where policies introduced by the SNP Government, including the Scottish Child Payment, will keep an estimated 100,000 children out of poverty this year.
Commenting, SNP MSP Rona Mackay said:
“The SNP Scottish Government has made tackling child poverty its highest priority and we firmly believe that the UK Government should do likewise.
“We are willing to work along with them to eradicate child poverty, but their rhetoric must be backed up with action.
“Keir Starmer cannot claim to be serious about tackling child poverty until he scraps the two-child benefit cap which is known to be one of the biggest drivers of child poverty.
“At every opportunity so far, Labour has failed to scrap the limit which would lift thousands of children out of poverty immediately, and it now seems they are preparing to delay the next chance to do the right thing.
“After only a matter of weeks in government, this is set to be just the latest broken promise from the party which promised ‘change’ throughout the election campaign but have so far offered no change at all from yet more austerity and devastating cuts to public services.
“With every day the UK government delays action, it pushes more children into poverty.
“With limited powers and resources, the SNP Government is prioritising tackling child poverty, with policies such as the Scottish Child Payment which it is estimated will keep 100,000 children out of poverty this year.
“It is time for Labour to do likewise and urgently scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap.”
