The SNP will end the two-child cap and lift thousands out of poverty

When I became First Minister earlier this year, I made clear that my foremost priority in government would be eradicating child poverty.

In a rich country like Scotland, I simply cannot endure the idea that it is acceptable that even one child languishes in poverty. 

It keeps me up at night and it drives me to get up in the morning every day and get to work.

We’ve made real progress in Scotland through measures like our game-changing Scottish Child Payment.  But there is more to do.

Of course, one of the major drivers of child poverty is the UK Government’s two-child cap.

It is a cruel policy which was implemented by the previous Tory Government – the type of policy we came to expect from the likes of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

But shamefully it has been kept in place by Keir Starmer and the Labour UK Government.  The Tory two-child cap is now the Labour two-child cap.

The idea that any government could get into power and keep this appalling policy which attacks poor children and their families in place is inexplicable to me.

So I’m not going to. I’m going to scrap it.

The SNP Government will effectively end the two-child cap in Scotland – and we will lift over 15,000 children out of poverty in the process.

15,000 children getting a better start in life – and thousands of parents no longer worrying about making ends meet.

I am now calling on Labour’s DWP to work with us to allow us to make progress in scrapping the cap as quickly as possible.  They absolutely must not stand in our way.

But I will do everything – absolutely everything – in my power to lift children in Scotland out of poverty and end this scourge once and for all.

That is what you can expect from a John Swinney Government.  I will leave no stone unturned and I will take every step I possibly can to support families in Scotland.

We can’t mitigate every cruel UK Government policy.  Because whether it is a Tory or a Labour, we know that they will always sell Scotland short.

But people in Scotland can be assured that we will work day and night to do everything we possibly can to support them.

Ending the two-child cap gets to the heart of what my government is about.  I listened to the families across the country who were telling me how much they were struggling and I have taken action to support them.

I now expect that this measure will see cross-party support when the Budget is voted on in Parliament in the weeks to come.

If the Labour Party try to play politics and block this measure, the people of Scotland will simply never forgive them.

So my message to Labour is this – join us in ending the two-child cap and let us speak with one voice in saying that child poverty in Scotland should be a thing of the past.

This piece originally appeared in The Times.