Andy Burnham has called on Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap, becoming the latest high-profile Labour figure to call on the prime minister to change the policy, amid growing pressure from Labour MPs.
In the clearest sign yet that the Greater Manchester mayor is considering a return to Westminster to challenge the prime minister for the leadership, he said the benefit cap is “arbitrary” and could not be justified.
He described the policy as “the worst of Westminster” and said he “never supported it”.
“It can’t be defended, because it’s arbitrary,” he said. “Why does the third kid just get cut out or get less, or why do all three if you’ve got three kids?”
The intervention will be seen as a direct challenge to Sir Keir on the eve of the Labour conference, with questions swirling about the beleaguered prime minister’s future.
It came as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who has been an outspoken ally of Sir Keir since he took over as leader, refused to say he has full confidence in the prime minister.
But speaking to regional media, Sir Keir insisted he would lead Labour into the next election, saying he has been “very clear that this is a project of national renewal”.
“I'm very clear that that is a ten year project. I led from the front into the last election. I'll lead from the front into the next election”, he told ITV Meridian.
Mr Burnham’s intervention will pile further pressure on the chancellor to scrap the benefit cap, after more than 100 Labour MPs signed a letter to Rachel Reeves urging her to scrap it in the autumn Budget.
Meanwhile, the child poverty task force – a body set up by the government to examine the best ways to tackle the issue – is also expected to recommend lifting the cap. That would put the government in a difficult position as ministers are already braced for a £20-30bn black hole in the Budget even before the £3bn per year it is expected to cost to lift the cap.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury select committee, told The Independent lifting the cap would be the “quickest and surest way to lift children out of poverty”.
“As well as the challenges - including hunger and humiliation - these children face, we have a birth rate of only 1.41 in England and Wales and need to invest in our young people.
"I've crunched the numbers and this is the measure that will help the most children the quickest”, she said.
A senior Labour source warned that, politically, the government has “no option but to lift it”, warning that the view of the parliamentary Labour party is “very clear.”
Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, told The Independent the fact the cap is still in place “is frankly a stain on our government”.
“Scrapping the two-child limit is essential - we must undo the damage the Conservatives caused with this cruel and unjust policy that has now pushed more than 4 million kids into poverty.”
She warned: “It is unsustainable for the prime minister to ignore the calls from hundreds of organisations, coalitions, task forces and the more than 100 Labour MPs who are asking him to announce its immediate withdrawal without waiting for the budget.”
In a joint statement, Debbie Abrahams and Helen Hayes, chairs of the education and work and pensions select committees, said that in their roles they have heard “consistent evidence that limiting support through the benefits system to two children in a household, is a key driver to child poverty increases, with witnesses calling for it to be axed.”
"Poverty affects children’s physical, cognitive and emotional development, their health as children and adults, as well as their employment outcomes with the impact lasting for decades”, they warned.
Ian Lavery, MP for Blyth and Ashington, added that child poverty is “the scourge of a modern, wealthy society”, saying it is the “shame of our nation... that our kids are suffering on a huge scale.”
And Rachael Maskell, who has long campaigned for the cap to be lifted, said that addressing the causes of child poverty is “exactly the step a government must take if it is to end the social injustices in our society”.
The cap, imposed by Tory former chancellor George Osborne, prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
The growing pressure comes after Mr Burnham said Labour MPs are privately urging him to challenge the prime minister for the Labour leadership. He accused Downing Street of creating a “climate of fear” and said “wholesale change” was needed to see off the “existential” threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Mr Burnham, who is one of three children and whose mother received child benefit, told The Guardian: “My parents always said to me something that has definitely guided me in my life – you can never visit the sins of the parents on the kids.
“It’s just a ridiculous thing that the state is kind of making these sort of judgmental interventions into families’ lives and saying, ‘Yes, it’s OK for some kids to have a lower standard of living’, because that is family decisions that their parents took, is absolutely abhorrent.
“It cannot be justified. It’s the worst of Westminster, that’s what it is.”
The issue has also been central to the contest to succeed Angela Rayner as deputy leader, with both candidates, Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell, suggesting the limit should be abolished.
Asked if he has full confidence in the prime minister, Mr Sarwar said: “He has got a really difficult job, we have made significant progress in the last year. If I’ve got one single biggest criticism of a UK Labour government, it is there have been huge successes, but very few people have been told about them or know about them.”
However, cabinet minister Steve Reed led criticism from some Labour MPs who are angered that Mr Burnham’s comments risk splits in the party before its conference this weekend.
“[Burnham] is entitled to his view, but we’ve heard these kinds of comments before,” he told Sky News. “When Labour was in opposition, there used to be people that would take potshots at Keir Starmer. He then picked this party up off the floor and led us to a record-breaking general election victory.”
