LABOUR backbenchers have been urged to use their "appetite for rebellion" to pressure the UK Government into dropping the two-child benefit cap.
The SNP has warned ministers they will be making a "political choice" to send thousands more children into poverty if they fail to scrap the measure in the coming months.
The warning comes exactly one year since the Labour Government voted down an SNP amendment to scrap the two-child cap in the new UK Government’s first King’s speech.
Immediately after the vote, Keir Starmer suspended seven Labour MPs for voting to support the SNP’s amendment.
Kirsty Blackman (below), the [[SNP]]'s work and pensions spokesperson, is now challenging Labour backbenchers to replicate their opposition to the Labour Party’s welfare cuts and use their "voices and votes to finally scrap Starmer’s two-child cap".
She said: “It is worth remembering that exactly a year ago one of the first choices the new Prime Minister made was to punish seven of his own MPs for voting with the SNP to scrap the cruel two-child cap which would have lifted thousands of children out of poverty.
“It's time for Labour backbenchers who have finally found their appetite for rebellion in recent months, to use their voices and votes to finally scrap Starmer’s two-child cap.
“It is also worth remembering that last year not one Scottish Labour MP supported the [[SNP]]’s amendment to scrap the two-child cap - despite the hollow words of Anas Sarwar who claims he supports scrapping it in Scotland.
“Last year only seven Labour MPs voted with the [[SNP]]. When the next rebellion comes its true test will be if there are enough Labour backbenchers to force Keir Starmer’s hand and reverse his government’s policy of keeping the two-child cap."
The cap was introduced in 2017 by then-chancellor George Osborne and has been maintained by Labour. It restricts means-tested benefits to the first two children in a family, unless specific exemptions apply.
The number of households affected by the cap has increased by more than 13,000 over the past year, with more than 1.6 million children across the UK now impacted.
According to statistics released earlier this month, 469,780 households claiming Universal Credit were affected by the two-child limit policy in April this year, which represents a 3% increase in the past 12 months.
There were 1,665,540 children living in those households – 37,150 (or 2%) more than the year before.
A chunk of households had an exception to the policy (26,300), but the vast majority (453,600) were not receiving the child element of Universal Credit because of the measure.
SNP analysis suggests more than 100,000 children in Scotland live in households hit by the cap.
The Scottish Government has pledged to mitigate the effect of the cap from March 2 next year. However, the Labour Government's current policy of keeping the two-child limit across the UK will mean Scotland's budget will be hit by the policy.
