Kendall: Labor has ‘bold and ambitious’ child poverty strategy

The shadow work and pensions secretary has defended his party’s decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap, Local Democracy reporter Noah Vickers reports

Labor needs to go “much, much further” in tackling child poverty, the party’s work and pensions secretary has admitted, as pressure mounts on Sir Keir Starmer to ditch the two-child benefit cap.

In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Liz Kendall suggested the cap could be removed once Labor takes the “first steps” in its manifesto if it wins the election.

But she also stressed that Labor had been “honest with people” by not making unfunded commitments and had “a bold and ambitious cross-government strategy to tackle child poverty”.

Introduced by George Osborne when he was chancellor, the two-child limit means parents on low incomes are denied key benefits, including universal credit, for their third child and any subsequent children born from April 2017.

The policy already applies to around two million children, but by the end of the next parliament it will affect a further 670,000, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said this week.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, have both called for the cap to be scrapped, along with several charities and anti-poverty campaigners. But the move – estimated to cost £1.3 billion a year – was not included in Labour’s manifesto and Sir Keir refused to set a timetable for its removal in the future.

“I’m not going to put a date on these things, but I’m not immune to how strong that argument is,” the Labor leader said this week, referring to the IFS figures.

Asked if she was “not immune”, Kendall said: “It’s a Conservative policy and I voted against it (when it was introduced). I am passionate about tackling child poverty.

“That’s why in our manifesto we’re committing to a bold and ambitious cross-government strategy to tackle child poverty, starting with free breakfast clubs in every primary school, a big warm homes initiative to make sure homes are isolated, our plans for a genuine living wage, our back-to-work plan, our plan to create more jobs.

“Look, I know we have to go much, much further, but we’re also honest with people that we’re not going to make promises we can’t keep or show how we’re going to deliver.

“This is a real priority for me, fighting child poverty. I have taken the first steps, but I know there is still a long way to go.”

Asked if she had found it difficult to tell voters that Labor would not drop the cap, Kendall added: “There are a lot of things that are difficult for me. The fact that the Tories have cut council funding by a third, the state of local housing, overcrowding, wet conditions.

“The fact that people are desperate for care on the NHS, many people have to wait painfully or pay to go privately. The fact that families who have suffered huge injustices are waiting for years due to court backlogs.

“I’m angry about all those things, but we can’t do everything overnight. Our strong commitment to people is that we’re going to reduce these child poverty numbers by getting people into jobs and into better-paying work and doing all the other things we’ve talked about.”

Starmer told Sky News last week that it was a “very difficult decision” not to commit to removing the cap, but that Labor would “inherit a broken economy” after the election and that it would not “make promises I cannot keep “.

The general election will take place on Thursday, July 4.

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