Keir Starmer is under fresh pressure to reverse Labour’s most controversial welfare policies, as criticism mounts over the party’s stance on child and disability benefits.
The SNP has demanded that the Labour leader urgently U-turns on the two child benefit cap and proposed changes to disability support, warning that public trust in his government is hanging by a thread.
In a stark letter to the Prime Minister, SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said that people across Scotland feel “appalled” by Labour’s direction since taking office.
She accused Starmer of breaking key election promises and warned that thousands of families now face unnecessary hardship.
“Balancing the books on the backs of the poor is not just wrong,” she said. “It’s a betrayal of the trust that voters placed in Labour.”
Blackman, who serves as the SNP’s spokesperson for Work and Pensions, argued that the party’s recent partial U-turn on winter fuel payments shows it is feeling the heat.
She called on Starmer to extend that climbdown to include the two child cap, which limits support for low-income families, and to rule out further restrictions on disability benefits.
The letter follows a turbulent week for the Labour government, after backlash forced ministers to hint at softening their position on winter fuel payments.
But the SNP says pensioners are still in the dark, with no firm details on whether payments will be protected this winter.
While Downing Street has signalled that more information might come in the Autumn budget, Blackman says that is too long to wait.
“People facing a cold and expensive winter need answers now, not in October,” she said.
Labour’s original proposals had sparked fury from campaigners, who warned that the cuts would hit the most vulnerable hardest.
Charities have echoed those concerns, saying the two child cap in particular is linked to rising poverty among children in larger families.
Meanwhile, disability advocates have said any further tightening of eligibility or support would be “devastating” for people already struggling to get by.
Starmer has previously defended the child benefit cap, saying difficult decisions are needed to stabilise the economy.
But opponents argue that targeting children, disabled people and pensioners is not the answer.
The SNP has vowed to keep up the pressure, with Blackman warning that any further delay in reversing course could see Labour lose more of the goodwill it built during the election campaign.
“For all the talk of change,” she said, “people are seeing more of the same.”
In her letter, SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson Kirsty Blackman MP writes:
“Dear Sir Keir,
“Yesterday, during Prime Minister’s Questions you suggested you were considering a long-overdue, partial U-turn on the Labour Party’s damaging decision to strip the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners, adding that you: “want to ensure that as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.” You suggested a decision would be made on this at the next fiscal event, which is due to be the Autumn budget.
“Your decision to strip pensioners of their winter fuel payments has pushed many older people into hardship and caused almost a year’s worth of tremendous concern and uncertainty. With energy bills and the cost of living soaring on the Labour government’s watch, people will be anxious for more information on what exactly you meant by your comments. In Scotland, the SNP has already taken the decision to do the right thing and reinstate a winter fuel payment this coming winter. However, you are of course aware that decisions at Westminster impact the budget of the Scottish Government and its own ability to plan ahead. The Labour Party’s cuts will continue to slash Scotland’s budget unless they are reversed in full.
“I am therefore calling on you to scrap your plan to leave people waiting until the Autumn for more details and, instead, immediately confirm that there will be a full and immediate u-turn on the Labour Party’s cuts to the winter fuel payment, that the payment will be restored as a universal benefit, with payments in place to benefit pensioners by this coming winter – and that any Barnett consequentials will be made available in full to the Scottish Government.
“I also urge you to use this opportunity to abandon your plan to impose even more austerity cuts to vulnerable people and public services at the upcoming spending review. That means abandoning the planned Labour Party cuts to disability benefits and reversing your decision to continue imposing the two child benefit cap, which is pushing thousands of Scottish children into poverty.
“In Scotland, First Minister John Swinney announced last year that the SNP would end the two-child cap for families in Scotland and lift 15,000 children out of poverty in the process. But in Westminster, Labour have only pushed more people into poverty with their spending cuts. This week, Gordon Brown joined calls for the two-child cap to be scrapped, saying “The cost-effective way of getting around 500,000 children out of poverty is abolishing the two-child limit.” This view echoes the calls which the SNP have been making to successive Westminster governments and it is now time to finally act on this and do the right thing by scrapping the cap.
“People in Scotland have lost trust in your government. Voters in Scotland are appalled that the Labour Party has broken its election promises, and chosen to push thousands of children, disabled people and pensioners into hardship and poverty – by imposing austerity cuts and balancing the books on the backs of the poor.
“Unless there is a full and immediate U-turn on these austerity cuts, the broken public trust in the Labour government will erode even further.
“Yours for Scotland,
Kirsty Blackman MP
SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson”
