LABOUR MPs have been urged to “send Keir Starmer a message” by backing a bill to remove the two-child benefit cap.
On Tuesday, MPs will vote on the Child Poverty Strategy Bill, tabled by the SNP, which aims to remove the two-child limit.
Starmer has faced calls to scrap the limit since Labour came to power last year, including from charities, backbenchers, and former party leader Neil Kinnock.
The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman will raise the issue through a 10-minute rule motion in the Commons as she said abolishing the two-child benefit cap is a “key test of whether the Labour government is capable of change”.
Blackman added that “it is shameful that child poverty is soaring to record levels on Keir Starmer's watch” and has called for “real action” and not more “empty words, broken promises and failure” from the Labour Government.
Independent research by the House of Commons Library showed that scrapping the two-child benefit cap, which was introduced by the Conservative Party in 2017, would lift more than 2.3 million families out of poverty, including a further 96,000 in Scotland.
Blackman, the SNP’s work and pensions spokesperson, wrote to Labour MPs ahead of the vote on Tuesday, urging them to axe the cap, which was “ shamefully” carried on by Starmer when Labour came into power last year.
“Today's vote could be the final opportunity before the UK Budget for MPs to really make their views clear and force Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to finally abolish the cap,” Blackman wrote.
“I know many Labour MPs agree with me that it is deeply regrettable this damaging policy hasn't already been abolished. Politics is about priorities - and there can be no greater priority than eradicating child poverty.
“It is shameful that child poverty is soaring to record levels on Keir Starmer's watch, and all the research shows it will continue to rise in the years ahead unless there is a major change in direction and real action - not more empty words, broken promises and failure, which have become the watchwords for Keir Starmer's time in office.”
The bill is has reportedly been backed by child poverty charities along with a range of political parties, including the Green Party, Plaid Cymru, The Independent Alliance, the DUP, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and the Alliance Party.
Blackman added that Starmer's decision to not only continue but also “ramp up” welfare cuts to families across the UK is a “shameful symbol of his failure to deliver real change”.
The SNP MP pointed out that joint pressure from cross-party MPs applied to Starmer over his disability and winter fuel cuts resulted in a U-turn by the UK Government earlier this year.
Blackman added: “By voting for this bill, MPs can send a clear message to Keir Starmer that a radical change in direction is urgent and essential.
“Otherwise, child poverty will continue to rise, and - to be brutally frank - many of your Labour Party colleagues won't have to worry about making political decisions much longer because Nigel Farage will be Prime Minister and they will be out of a job.”
Research commissioned by the SNP by the House of Commons Library showed that over the past decade, the number of children living in poverty in the UK has risen from 3.7 million (27%) in 2013/14 to 4.5 million (31%) in 2023/24.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are working closely with and supporting the Scottish Government to mitigate the two-child limit in Scotland through the largest real terms settlement in the history of devolution.
“The UK government is determined to bring down child poverty. We’ve already uprated benefits, increased the national minimum wage and are supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
“We will publish an ambitious child poverty strategy later this year to ensure we deliver fully-funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the country.”
