Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure from within his own party to abolish the two-child benefit cap, after Labour MP Rosie Duffield described the policy as “heinous” in an article for The Sunday Times. Duffield, the MP for Canterbury, called the cap “sinister and overtly sexist”, adding that it was the main reason she stood for parliament.
The cap, introduced by George Osborne in 2017, prevents parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child, with limited exemptions. Duffield criticised the so-called “rape clause”, which provides an exception for children conceived through sexual assault, arguing it forces women to disclose traumatic details to strangers.
More than a dozen Labour backbenchers are believed to support an amendment to the king’s speech calling for the cap to be scrapped. The SNP has also tabled a similar amendment. The UK government says 4 million children live in poverty, an increase of 700,000 since 2010, while the cap affects 1.6 million children according to the Department for Work and Pensions.
The new Labour government has announced a taskforce to develop a child poverty strategy, led by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. However, ministers have indicated that the state of public finances prevents them from abolishing the cap at present.
Commons Leader Lucy Powell told MPs that the government is “absolutely committed to tackling child poverty” but reiterated that “economic circumstances do not currently allow for us to abolish the cap”. Charities consulted by Kendall have also called for the cap to be abolished.
