BEFORE Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, he vowed to scrap the two-child benefit cap to “tackle the vast social injustice in our country”.
When Starmer made his pledge, it was 2020, and he was running in the Labour leadership contest.
Fast forward to 2023, and Starmer U-turned on his commitment, stating in July that year that he was “not changing that policy”.
A year later, Starmer won the keys to Number 10, and since then his ministers have repeatedly briefed that the policy was for the chop – but nothing happens.
Starmer and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves were expected to address this at last week’s Labour Party conference, but nothing came of it.
The next day, reports suggested the Chancellor and Treasury are considering a “tapered” approach, or lifting the cap for parents who are in work.
The final decision will be announced at the November Budget, allegedly.
Here’s a timeline of how the row over ending the policy has developed since Labour came to power.
July 17, 2024 – Early Day Motion and Task Force
A parliamentary bid, backed by 40 MPs, tabled on July 17, called on the UK Government to “scrap the two-child limit”.
On the same day, Starmer announced a task force to work on the Child Poverty Strategy, establishing a Child Poverty Unit in the Cabinet Office.
“For too long, children have been left behind, and no decisive action has been taken to address the root causes of poverty,” Starmer said in the announcement. “This is completely unacceptable – no child should be left hungry, cold or have their future held back.
“That’s why we’re prioritising work on an ambitious child poverty strategy, and my ministers will leave no stone unturned to give every child the very best start at life.
July 23, 2024 – a rebellion
Just weeks after the General Election, Labour suspended seven MPs for backing calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap limit.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell (below), Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Zarah Sultana all lost the Labour whip after backing an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech.
They were suspended for six months.
The remaining Labour MPs voted to keep the cap, including all those from Scotland – except for Katrina Murray, who did not vote.
May 29, 2025 – A softening?
Starmer appeared to hint at a U-turn on his stance on the two-child cap, stating: "We'll look at all options of driving down child poverty."
And, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky News that lifting the cap is "not off the table" – and "it's certainly something that we're considering".
September 30, 2025 – the speech
It had been widely briefed before Starmer’s speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool that Starmer would announce scrapping the two-child cap – but it didn’t happen.
He did reference child poverty once, stating: “Because a Britain where no child is hungry, where no child is held back by poverty – that’s a Britain built for all.”
September 31, 2025 – briefing instead
Reports, based on unnamed officials, of course, suggested that Reeves is looking at limiting additional benefits to three or four children, introducing a tapered rate so parents would get the most for their first child and less for subsequent children, or only lifting the cap for working parents on universal credit.
You can read what SNP MP Kirsty Blackman, who is leading the campaign to abolish the cap completely, has to say on that here.
