SNP figures have criticised the BBC after it reported that the party had “joined” Labour MPs in pushing against the two-child benefit cap.
The policy, which was brought into effect by the Tories in 2017, limits the benefits a person can receive for their third or subsequent children, unless they can prove certain conditions such as that the child was a result of rape.
The cap was controversial from the outset, and the SNP have opposed it for nearly a decade.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has supported the cap and said that the top priority for his Labour government is economic growth.
However, a BBC News article on Monday was headlined: “SNP join push to scrap two-child benefit cap.”
It reported: “The SNP has announced plans to join Labour rebels in trying to force the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.”
SNP figures criticised the BBC for the framing of the story.
An SNP activist said "'join' is a bit of a mischaracterisation" and highlighted past SNP MPs' work in the area, leading former Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss to say she had been “working to scrap the two-child limit since it was first proposed in the 2015 budget”.
Calling out the headline specifically, Thewliss added: “‘Join’? Perhaps if the BBC had paid more attention back when @theSNP were leading opposition to the two-child limit and the rape clause in 2015, and regularly calling to scrap it for the past nine years, perhaps we wouldn't still have to be fighting against it now.”
"join"? Perhaps if the BBC had paid more attention back when @theSNP were leading opposition to the two child limit and the rape clause in 2015, and regularly calling to scrap it for the past nine years, perhaps we wouldn't still have to be fighting against it now. 🙄 https://t.co/M3y4fBGcZA
— Alison Thewliss (@alisonthewliss) July 15, 2024
SNP councillor Alex Kerr shared past examples of the party opposing the two-child cap.
In a post shared by Scottish Government Minister Christina McKelvie, Kerr added: “I'm struggling to see what possible justification @BBCPolitics have for missing @theSNP's early and vociferous campaigning to scrap the two-child cap since its introduction.”
Mhairi Hunter, a former SNP councillor and close Nicola Sturgeon ally, wrote: “‘Join’ is wild.
“The SNP voted against the two-child cap when it was introduced, has campaigned against it ever since and abolishing it was a manifesto commitment. We haven't joined anyone.”
"Join" is wild. The SNP voted against the 2 child cap when it was introduced, has campaigned against it ever since and abolishing it was a manifesto commitment. We haven't joined anyone. https://t.co/OvsBSLHUJg
— Mhairi Hunter 🇺🇦 🏴 (@MhairiHunter) July 15, 2024
On Monday, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn wrote to Scottish Labour group leader Anas Sarwar asking him to instruct his MPs to support an amendment to the King’s Speech aimed at ending the cap.
Sarwar has also spoken out against the cap in a bid to pressure his UK Labour bosses to act, but it seems unlikely he will be able to influence Scottish Labour MPs to go against Starmer at Westminster.
Flynn said the two-child cap is “pushing thousands of Scottish children into poverty” and ending it is “the bare minimum” required of the new Government.
His letter to the Scottish Labour leader claimed the “Tory two-child cap became the Labour Party two-child cap” once Starmer stepped through the door of Downing Street.
Flynn said it would be “simple” for the UK Government to scrap the cap “immediately” but added this was “a political choice and it requires politicians, across parties, to demand better”.
Figures published last week 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% of children were in households with three children, 29% in households with four children, and 19% in households with five or more children.
Last month, before becoming Prime Minister, Starmer said he would scrap the two-child limit “in an ideal world” but added that “we haven’t got the resources to do it at the moment”.
The Resolution Foundation has said that abolishing the two-child limit would cost the Government somewhere between £2.5 billion and £3.6bn in 2024/25, but that such costs are “low compared to the harm that the policy causes”.
The BBC has been approached for comment.
