Chancellor Rachel Reeves has condemned Nigel Farage’s suggestion that only British-born families should benefit from the removal of the two-child benefit cap, accusing the Reform UK leader of wanting to keep children in poverty based on skin colour.
Reeves, who will introduce legislation to scrap the cap on Thursday, said Farage’s comments were akin to saying some families deserved to have children in poverty. “I don’t really care what colour a kid’s skin is – some deserve to be in poverty and some don’t? That makes me pretty angry,” she told the Guardian.
Farage told a press conference on Wednesday that his party would vote against the scrapping of the two-child limit, having previously suggested he could back the change. He said he was concerned it would “benefit huge numbers of foreign-born people”. Labour analysis suggests his alternative proposal – to limit additional benefits to households with two working parents born in the UK – would help just 3,700 children, less than 1% of those affected.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the opposition from Reform and the Conservatives exposed “the deep division and decline” of their agendas. “Nigel Farage seems intent on linking arms with the Conservatives in a cruel alliance to push kids who need help back into poverty,” he said during a visit to Bedfordshire.
Reeves also addressed Farage’s shifting denials of allegations of racist and antisemitic bullying during his time at Dulwich College, with Farage on Wednesday calling the claims “complete made-up fantasies”. The chancellor said the government must win public support for the measure, which could lift 550,000 children out of poverty, and ensure no future government reverses the policy.
