Limit of two child benefits could be scrapped, says Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who grew up in poverty

Abolishing the two-child allowance cap is to be considered by the new government, a cabinet minister revealed on Monday.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the possible scrapping of the controversial restriction would be part of a review by a task force to tackle child poverty that she chairs with Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.

She told Sky News: “Too many young people in our country are growing up in poverty. This number has grown massively under the Conservatives.

“There are a number of measures that we will have to consider in terms of how we respond to this.

“There are steps we have already started.

“We’ve announced legislation through the King’s Speech on areas where this will make a big difference to children and families, universal free breakfast clubs… how we can get paid work…”

On the two-child benefit limit, she added: “This was not a policy that a Labor government brought in, we are aware of the evidence around it and as part of the review we will be carrying out in in the coming months, we’re going to consider that as one of the many ways … we’re going to look at all the levers in terms of how we can lift children out of poverty.”

Sir Keir Starmer supported Ms Phillipson’s position.

Taking questions after a speech at the Farnborough International Air Show, he said: “She is passionate about tackling poverty and particularly child poverty.

“She spoke very strongly this morning because she speaks as a woman who grew up in poverty.

“Everyone who knows her past knows how hard it was for her.”

He stressed that the Government’s child poverty strategy would cover “all the bases” to reduce it, adding: “No child should grow up in poverty.

“The last Labor government did enormous work on this with a very good strategy. I intend to do the same with the same commitment and passion.”

Their comments came as the government faces the threat of its first revolt from Labor Commons MPs over the benefits cap.

More than 100 MPs have now backed Commons motions calling for the two-child benefit cap to be dropped.

They include Labor MPs Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) and ‘Mother of the House’ as the longest continuously serving female MP Dawn Butler (Brent East), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) and Bell Ribeiro. -Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill), as well as former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who won Islington North in the general election, becoming an independent.

The 100 MPs include around 20 Labor MPs, over 60 Liberal Democrats, Greens, Scottish National Party MPs and independent MPs.

Many more members of the workforce and some on the front lines privately oppose the cap.

Liverpool Riverside Labor MP Kim Johnson tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech in a bid to force the government to act on the issue.

She criticized the two-child benefit cap as “cruel, punitive and pushing struggling families further into poverty”.

Mr McDonnell has signaled he will table an amendment to the Finance Bill to implement a budget in the autumn if necessary to end the clampdown.

Before becoming prime minister, Sir Keir said he would drop the two-child limit “in an ideal world”, but added that “we don’t have the resources to do that at the moment”.

Ministers stressed they would not make “unfunded spending commitments” and were counting on achieving healthy economic growth in the UK to invest more in public services and social justice.

If it were a showdown in the Commons, the government has a majority of 174 so is unlikely to suffer defeat, but could be hit by a revolt from dozens of MPs, parliamentary aides and even some ministers.

The cap, introduced by the Tories in 2017, prevents parents from claiming Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits for a third child except in very limited circumstances.

Figures recently released by the Department for Work and Pensions showed there were 1.6 million children living in households affected by the cap in April this year, rising from 1.5 million by April 2023.

Of these, 52 percent of children were in households with three children, 29 percent in households with four children, and 19 percent in households with five or more children.

The Resolution Foundation said scrapping the two-child limit would cost the Government somewhere between £2.5bn and £3.6bn in 2024/25, but that such costs were “small compared to the harm caused by the policy “.