Keir Starmer seeks to avert backbench rebellion with child poverty taskforce | Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer has sought to stave off the first rebellion of his premiership by launching a new cross-government taskforce to tackle child poverty, as Labour backbenchers prepared to back calls to scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap.

Starmer’s first King’s Speech contained no specific measures to tackle child poverty, angering dozens of MPs on his own benches, many of whom have constituents suffering under the policy introduced by former Tory chancellor George Osborne.

According to The Guardian, the SNP has formally tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech to remove the policy. The party’s amendment has received cross-party support, including the Green Party, Social Democrats and Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Alliance and independent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn.

A number of members of the left wing of the Labour Party signalled on Wednesday night their intention to support an amendment tabled by Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson, which is expected to include a first step for the government to focus on scrapping the policy, followed by introducing free school meals, increasing child benefit and improving universal credit.

The prime minister had sought to appease rebels in his own party by launching the taskforce, which was first called for by former prime minister Gordon Brown in May, as the strength of feeling over the two-child limit was widespread across the parliamentary Labour Party.

In a rare intervention, Sarah Owen, MP for Luton North, told the Commons that more than 45% of children in her constituency live in relative poverty, and she demanded assurances from Starmer that he would address the issue and take it seriously.

New Labour MPs, including Torsten Bell, have already called for the policy to be scrapped, but given the early nature of this parliamentary test they may avoid committing to supporting an amendment in order to avoid the harshness of Labour discipline seen in opposition.

A new child poverty unit will be created within the Cabinet Office and will report to the taskforce, co-chaired by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. Experts from across government will work with charity leaders to consider how the government can “pull levers” to improve children’s experiences and life chances.

Each of the organisations that attended a meeting with Kendall on Wednesday morning – Save the Children, Action for Children, Barnardo’s, TUC, End Child Poverty, the Resolution Foundation and Unicef ​​– have previously called for the two-child limit to be urgently scrapped.

Paul Carberry, Chief Executive of Action for Children, said: “I was pleased to meet with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, today to discuss how we can urgently lift children out of poverty. It is right that the new Taskforce and Child Poverty Unit are working across government to look at the wider causes and solutions to child poverty.

He added: “A strategy to tackle child poverty must start with the abolition of the cruel and unnecessary two-child limit. This would immediately lift around 300,000 children out of poverty.”

Tom Pollard, head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation think tank, whose former CEO Miatta Fahnbulleh is now a New Labour MP, said: “It’s good that a government is making an explicit commitment to tackling child poverty, but it’s hard to see beyond the urgent need to scrap the two-child limit. It needs to be ended as soon as possible.”

At least one in four children live in absolute poverty and 1.6 million children live in families affected by the two-child child benefit limit. The policy means that low-income parents are denied essential benefits, including Universal Credit, for their third and any subsequent children born from April 2017.

John McDonnell, a Labour MP and former shadow chancellor, said: “It was the timing of the announcement that forced them to bring it forward and push it forward. But it’s just a rehash of what’s been said and it’s not enough. So the pressure to remove the two-child child benefit cap will continue.”

Launching the taskforce, Starmer said ministers would “leave no stone unturned” in their efforts to give every child the best start in life.

“For too long, children have been left behind and no decisive action has been taken to address the root causes of poverty,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable. No child should go hungry, cold or have their future compromised.”

Weeks before winning the election, Starmer told reporters he was “not immune” to the powerful argument for scrapping the policy, but declined to set a timetable for scrapping the plan introduced by Osborne.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said: “I urge Scottish Labour MPs to vote for the SNP amendment. If they fail, they will have to take responsibility for the child poverty that their Labour government is causing in Scotland.”

“Removing the two-child cap is the bare minimum required. Significant action is needed to eradicate child poverty, which is why SNP MPs are also pressing the Labour Government to equalise Scottish Child Benefit payments by increasing Universal Credit by £26.70 per child per week.”