Scottish Labour MPs should put their money where their mouth is on the two-child cap

by Stephen Flynn
Posted on
2 months ago
4 min read

School’s out for summer in Scotland, but last week Sir Keir Starmer sat his first test.

The new PM had it in his gift to scrap the two-child cap as part of his King’s Speech. He could have said, with absolute authority, that his government would deliver meaningful change and take bold steps to end child poverty.

A test every government should be measured by and it was a test he categorically failed. The new Prime Minister and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves are stubbornly sticking to the line that they are going to keep a policy that actively pushes children into poverty.

It’s early days for this new Government but that first choice should worry us all. Because the General Election result made clear people wanted change. The Labour Party stood on a platform of change.

They successfully won a massive mandate and a massive change after 14 years of the Conservatives is exactly what this King’s Speech should have delivered.

Instead of delivering that change though – their first Programme for Government represented a stuttering start. The campaign may have a slogan for change at its heart but it’s clear that caution is the watchword of this new Labour Government.

If they can’t deliver on this policy – a baby step towards ending child poverty – what signal are they sending?

With an enormous Westminster majority it would be simple for it to be scrapped, but that is ultimately a political choice and how Sir Keir Starmer addressed that choice determined the priorities of his government.

We now know child poverty is not one of them.

And let’s be clear, while this was a Tory policy forged in the depths of an austerity budget, for every week the two-child benefit cap remains in place it is another week that the Labour Party must take ownership of its impact.

The context of Starmer’s decision is this: A YouGov opinion poll showed that public support for keeping the two-child cap remains in the slight majority.

For a lot of people, there is a hunch. An instinct that the number of children we have should be determined by financial circumstances. A feeling that families, rich and poor, should both make considerations about whether they can afford a third child. It’s an aptitude that many on these islands feel towards fairness.

But it’s that natural inclination towards fairness that makes the two-child cap categorically wrong.

No matter what your views are on the parents of a child, it can never be the case that children are punished by virtue of being more than two siblings.

That is simply not fair.

It is essentially why the Labour Party, Pat McFadden aside, won’t defend the two-child benefit cap, but instead say the money isn’t there.

But we know the two-child cap has had no impact on fertility rates and the small amount of capital saved is more than outstripped by the cost of the endemic poverty it fuels.

From a purely economic point of view, the £3 billion it would cost to scrap the policy can also be viewed as a stimulus package. It is money going to poorer families who can’t afford to save. Every single penny will be funnelled straight back into an ailing economy crying out for cash in a cost-of-living crisis.

It certainly wasn’t logic that led Sir Keir to fail his first big test.

But that test is now passed directly to Scottish Labour MPs who can vote for the SNP amendment to scrap the cap.

Anas Sarwar said the cap should go and amendments laid before the House will give his MPs the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is – ending child poverty should be a priority for any progressive government, not the least one led by the Labour Party.

If Scottish Labour is serious about real change and if they want to eradicate child poverty then they can take the first, basic step towards doing just that – the Labour Party don’t need a taskforce, they just need to vote for the SNP amendment.

There may only be nine SNP MPs down here now, but by laying this amendment we’ve made child poverty the central issue of the last week and the week ahead.

Even the Lib Dems have felt compelled to copy our amendment. And by the way, the sheer hypocrisy of those wet blankets, responsible for the Tory government which brought in the cap, will not be lost on anyone.

The SNP promised voters we would stand up for Scotland’s values and hold the Labour government to account – and that’s exactly what we intend to do.

The question for Scottish Labour is whether their MPs believe in the very basic principle of ending child poverty.

The test on that comes for them on Tuesday.

This article was originally published in the Daily Record, 22nd July.