SNP Westminster Leader, Stephen Flynn MP, has said Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar faces ‘serious and significant questions’ following the decision of every Labour MP in Scotland to vote to keep the poverty producing two-child cap.
Mr Sarwar has previously promised that his representative would scrap the two-child cap, which was introduced by the Tories in 2015.
New analysis published by the SNP this week revealed the devastating impact of the two-child cap – with an estimated 87,100 children in Scotland living in households hit by the punitive policy over the last year, and almost 1.5million children hit across Britain.
The research reveals the typical cost of the cap to families in Scotland this year is £287.92 a month, or £3455 a year, for families with three children.
In total, some of the poorest families in Scotland have lost a combined £454.8million in income since the policy was introduced.
The full text of Stephen Flynn’s letter to the Scottish Labour leader can be found below:
“Dear Anas,
Last night, the new UK Labour Government failed its first major test in office.
Labour MPs had the opportunity to deliver meaningful change from years of Tory misrule by immediately lifting thousands of children out of poverty. Instead, by voting against the SNP amendment to scrap the two-child cap, they made a political choice not to do so.
That political choice has consequences. This is now the Labour government’s two child cap – and your party must now take ownership of the damage this policy is continuing to cause.
For the public in Scotland who were promised change, it won’t soon be forgotten that not one Scottish Labour MP voted to end a policy that is pushing 87,100 Scottish children into poverty. That was the choice your MPs made last night.
Given your own previous promises on scrapping the two-child cap, serious and significant questions are now being directed at your leadership of this Scottish Labour MP group.
1. What discussions and direction did you provide to Scottish Labour MPs before last night’s vote on abolishing the two-child limit to universal credit?
2. Did you instruct Labour MPs from Scotland to vote against the SNP amendment that would have lifted children in Scotland, and across the UK, out of poverty?
3. If so, how can Scottish Labour credibly claim to support ending the two-child cap if your own MPs aren’t prepared to vote to scrap it?
4. During the recent general election, you claimed it was ‘nonsense’ to suggest that Scottish Labour MPs would always toe the line handed down by Sir Keir Starmer. Where does that promise stand now?
5. Do you support the Prime Minister in suspending 7 of his own Labour MPs for voting in favour of a measure that would reduce child poverty?
Tackling and eradicating child poverty is something that should unite us all in politics. That’s exactly why the SNP sought and received cross party support across Westminster to begin this new parliamentary term with a vote that would have scrapped a policy that is pushing children into poverty.
We know that scrapping the cap is the bare minimum we should expect but it would have represented a good start.
That cross-party consensus is why it is so disturbing that not a single Scottish Labour MP joined us to vote against the two-child cap last night. It is therefore right and reasonable that urgent answers are now provided on Scottish Labour’s position.
I look forward to hearing your response.
Yours for Scotland,
Stephen Flynn MP
SNP Westminster Leader”
