Government plans to remove child benefit cap for two children, education minister says
The newly elected Labour government will “consider” removing the two-child benefit cap “as one of many ways” to lift children out of poverty, the education minister has said. Bridget Phillipson he said, opening the way for a possible reversal of this policy.
She told Sky News: “Unfortunately it’s also a very expensive measure, but we’ll have to see it as one of many levers that will allow us to lift children out of poverty.”
“Housing is a big factor… The fact that for many families, work doesn’t pay as much as it should, and increasingly we’re seeing children growing up in poverty with at least one person in that household working.
“We will examine every measure to see how we can address this terrible scourge that is jeopardizing the life chances of too many children.”
Before Phillipson’s comments on Monday morning, party leaders were firmly committed to keeping the cap. On Sunday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC she could not commit to scrapping the cap without saying where the £3bn annual cost would come from.
“If we can’t say where the money is going to come from, we can’t promise to do it. That’s true for the two-child limit and everything else,” she said.
Backbenchers from across the party, including Rosie Duffield and Zarah Sultana, have called on the party leadership to scrap the cap, with the Canterbury MP calling it “abhorrent”.
Updated at 08:58 BST
In the same interview, Mel Stride He said there was no doubt we had a demographic problem when confronted with analysis showing one in six Conservative voters were at risk of dying before the next election.
The senior Conservative told Times Radio: “This is not just about having a huge ideological debate that will suddenly solve all the problems. This is about deep, careful work to work out how we can start to appeal to young voters.”
“I think this point about the age profile of those who support the Conservatives really highlights the scale of the challenge we face, but it is not insurmountable.”
He added that “the first thing we have to do is to unify the parliamentary party.”
Updated at 08:58 BST
Opening Summary
Hello, I’m Sammy Gecsoyler and I’m going to bring you the latest news from Westminster today.
This morning, all eyes are on the United States after Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 primary race. But another race, closer to home, is starting to heat up: who will lead the conservative party.
Mel StrideThe Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is the latest Conservative to stand as a candidate. He told Times Radio: “It’s something I’m considering.
“Several colleagues contacted me and suggested I do it.
“We obviously don’t know yet what the exact rules of the process will be – and I’ll wait and see before making a final decision – but it’s certainly a possibility.”
Stride is seen as a candidate from the centre of the party. Tom Tugendhat, also from that wing of the party, received the backing of two senior Conservative figures on Saturday. Figures from the right of the party, including Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, are also expected to run.
Stride objected to “ideological labels” when asked whether he would seek to prevent a rightward shift within the party, but added: “I want us to have that One Nation tradition.”
After her colleague Suella Braverman warned the party was in danger of becoming “centrist cranks”, Stride said: “I don’t think I would describe myself as that at all.”
Updated at 08:42 BST
