LABOUR have vowed to keep the two child benefit cap – sparking a furious party clash.
Tories accused Sir Keir Starmer of flip-flopping after he confirmed he would stick to the policy, despite mounting pressure from his MPs.
Keir Starmer won’t lift the child benefit cap – despite backing plans just three years ago
The Labour leader said the party was “not changing that policy” – despite backing it himself just three years ago.
But just weeks ago shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, described the cap as “heinous” and suggested he wanted to see it go.
Back in 2020 the then-shadow Brexit Secretary said: “We must scrap the inhuman Work Capability Assessments and private provision of disability assessments (e.g. ATOS), scrap punitive sanctions, two-child limit and benefits cap”.
Last night his words sparked another split within his backbench ranks.
Birkenhead MP Mick Whitley said: “I was elected on a platform committed to scrapping the two-child limit, which our Shadow and Work and Pensions Secretary recently correctly described as ‘heinous’.
“The two-child cap is causing misery for thousands of young people in Birkenhead.
“This is the wrong call.”
Ann Black – a member of Labour’s NEC – also tweeted: “This is wrong. It punishes children for the actions of their parents”.
“What has the third or fourth child done to deserve this?”
Some families have been left hundreds of pounds worse off since David Cameron’s government brought in the change.
But YouGov poll last week showed 60 percent of respondents agreed the two child cap should be kept.
Families can claim universal credit and tax credit to help with children’s costs – but since 2017 it has been only for the first two kids.
The policy aimed to try and force more parents to take on extra hours at work instead, but critics say it’s made poverty worse.
However, Sir Keir did not rule out lifting the freeze on housing benefit – which has stayed level for years despite soaring rents, and vowed to rip up planning rules to build “hundreds of thousands” more new homes.
Jonathan Ashworth said the two child benefit cap was heinous
