The SNP has increased pressure on Labour to “scrap the cap” after new research from the Resolution Foundation found that the two child benefit cap is “cementing” child poverty levels across the UK.
New analysis conducted by the Resolution Foundation found that there is a very strong relationship between local area child poverty rates and the share of children affected by the two-child limit – a policy known to be the single largest driver of child poverty levels in the UK.
The UK Labour government must scrap it.
The SNP tabled an amendment to scrap the two child benefit cap in the House of Commons but Labour MPs voted to keep it in place, including every Labour MP in Scotland.
This ensures that thousands of children across Scotland and the UK will be kept in poverty.
The contrast between families in England living under the Labour government’s two child benefit cap with families in Scotland who are supported by the SNP Government’s Scottish Child Payment, which provides families in Scotland with an additional £26.70 per child per week on top of UK benefits, couldn’t be clearer.
Alongside other SNP policies, the Scottish Child Payment will keep an estimated 100,000 children in Scotland out of poverty this year.
Commenting, SNP MSP Stuart McMillan said:
“Scrapping the two child cap is the bare minimum required to scratch the surface of child poverty in the UK.
“In order to eradicate it, we the UK government to show moral and economic courage.
“They must also learn from the success of the Scottish Child Payment and match it UK-wide – that would make a major difference to families in Scotland and across the UK, lifting thousands out of poverty.
“With every day the UK government delays action, it pushes more children into poverty.
“Politics is about priorities and there is no greater, or more urgent, priority than eradicating child poverty.
“The Scottish Child Payment has shown how you can support families, reduce the need for food bank use and bring child poverty levels down – that is the record of an SNP government and the contrast with Westminster couldn’t be clearer.”
