Scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap
4 min read
The cruellest policy in a very crowded field to come from the last 14 years of Tory governments is the two-child benefit cap.
The cap on benefits for those who have more than two children was spearheaded by the former chancellor George Osborne and eventually brought into force under May’s government in 2017. I and many other colleagues in Parliament at the time, voted against it. It was wrong then and is wrong now.
The intention was to encourage people into work – it didn’t. Instead, it contributed to growing numbers of children in poverty, further traumatised victims of rape and penalised ethnic minorities.
There will be no return to austerity but for some children austerity never ended
Year on year, the cap is plunging more and more children into poverty. It is a cruel legacy of an austerity government that caused untold misery and has left us with over four million children living in poverty. Scrapping the cap would immediately lift 300,000 of these children out of poverty. Of households affected by the policy, 20 per cent have at least one disabled child and 60 per cent have at least one adult in paid employment.
The primary route out of poverty is to tackle low paid, insecure work. That is why our New Deal for Working People, industrial strategy, plans for economic growth, in combination with school breakfasts and our child poverty task force are incredibly welcome and positive steps.
Implementing our agenda will take time but those who have suffered the most at the hands of austerity don’t have time. They need us to act now.
All organisations present at yesterday’s initial task force meeting have made public statements in support of scrapping the cap and agree it is the most efficient and cost-effective way of reducing poverty.
It is looking very likely that one of the eventual recommendations of the task force will be to scrap the cap.
I was proud to stand on our manifesto and understand that scrapping this cap wasn’t a commitment. But in the North East we have one of the highest rates of child poverty in the country and I promised my constituents that I would do all I could to end child poverty if they sent me back to Parliament. I will always honour my word to those who put their faith in me.
The costs of scrapping the cap are between £1.3bn and £3.4bn – approximately one per cent of our overall welfare bill. Just this month the International Monetary Fund and Office for Budget Responsibility have revised-up the UK’s growth figures, indicating greater fiscal headroom – so scrapping this cap could hopefully be affordable within Labour’s fiscal rules.
Removing the cap isn’t a panacea. Eradicating child poverty will take so much more but it would be a welcome start. Every single day for a child in poverty is another day their emotional, mental and physical health is affected.
I’ve spent my whole parliamentary career in opposition. I have fought every single day for my constituents against the most uncaring governments in living memory.
But despite that, I have had some success in ensuring food insecurity figures are now published, made progress on improving Healthy Start uptake, increased school breakfast provision, helped establish holiday activity clubs and set up a national charity that has and continues to work to eradicate hunger.
The Prime Minister has been clear we will be laser-focused on poverty and there will be no return to austerity but for some children austerity never ended.
I know that under a Labour government our children will have a better future, but I want their immediate present to be improved too. I have already contacted our relevant secretaries of state, who I know care deeply about this and I look forward to working closely with them to ensure no child goes without. Children can’t wait.
Emma Lewell-Buck, Labour MP for South Shields
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