Two child benefit limit may be scrapped, says Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson who grew up in poverty

Axing the two-child benefit limit is to be considered by the new Government, a Cabinet minister revealed on Monday.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the possible ditching of the controversial restriction would be part of a review by a task force to tackle child poverty that she is leading with Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.

She told Sky News: “Too many young people in our country are growing up in poverty. That number increased massively under the Conservatives.

“There are a range of measures that we will need to consider in terms of how we respond to this.

“There are steps that we have set out already.

“We announced legislation through the King’s Speech about areas where this will have a big difference to children and families, universal free breakfast clubs...how we may work pay...”

On the two-child benefit limit, she added: “This was not a policy that a Labour government introduced, we are aware of the evidence around this and as part of the review that we will conduct in the months to come we will consider that as one of a number of ways....we will look at all levers in terms of how we can lift children out of poverty.”

Sir Keir Starmer backed Ms Phillipson’s stance.

Taking questions after a speech at the Farnborough International Air Show, he said: “She is passionate about tackling poverty and child poverty in particular.

“She spoke very powerfully this morning because she speaks as a woman who grew up in poverty.

“Everybody who knows her background knows how hard it was for her.”

He stressed that the Government’s child poverty strategy would cover “all the bases” to drive it down, adding: “No child should grow up in poverty.

"The last Labour government did a huge amount of work on this with a very good strategy. I intend that we will do the same with the same commitment and passion."

Their comments came as the Government faces the threat of his first Commons revolt by Labour MPs, over the benefits cap.

More than 100 MPs have now backed Commons motions calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abandoned.

They include Labour MPs Diane Abbott, (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) and “Mother of the House” as the female MP with the longest continuous service in Parliament, Dawn Butler (Brent East), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) and Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill), as well as former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who won in Islington North at the general election standing as an independent.

The 100 MPs include around 20 Labour MPs, more than 60 Liberal Democrats, Greens, MPs from the Scottish National Party, as well as independent MPs.

Far more Labour backbenchers, and some frontbenchers, privately oppose the cap.

Liverpool Riverside Labour MP Kim Johnson has tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech in a bid to force the Government to act on the issue.

She has criticised the two-child benefit cap as “cruel, punitive and pushing struggling families into further poverty”.

Mr McDonnell has signalled he would table an amendment to the Finance Bill, to implement a Budget in the autumn, if needed to end the restriction.

Before becoming Prime Minister, Sir Keir said he would ditch the two-child limit “in an ideal world” but added that “we haven’t got the resources to do it at the moment”.

Ministers have emphasised that they would not be making “unfunded spending commitments” and are relying on getting healthy economic growth in Britain to invest more in public services and social justice.

If it came to a showdown Commons vote, the Government has a majority of 174 so is unlikely to suffer a defeat, but could be hit by a revolt from scores of backbench MPs, parliamentary aides and even some ministers.

The cap, introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, prevents parents claiming Universal Credit or child tax credits for a third child, except in very limited circumstances.

Figures published recently by the Department for Work and Pensions showed there were 1.6 million children living in households affected by the cap as of April this year, up from 1.5 million to April 2023.

Of these, 52 per cent of children were in households with three children, 29 per cent in households with four children, and 19 per cent in households with five or more children.

The Resolution Foundation has said that abolishing the two-child limit would cost the Government somewhere between £2.5 billion and £3.6 billion in 2024/25, but that such costs are “low compared to the harm that the policy causes”.