Sir Keir Starmer is facing a furious backlash from Labour MPs over plans to uphold the Tories’ two-child benefit cap.
In the Labour leader’s latest U-turn, which has been condemned by backbenchers and shadow ministers, Sir Keir backtracked on plans to scrap the policy devised by then-chancellor George Osborne.
One Labour MP told The Independent the U-turn would be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back”, sparking condemnation from all wings the party.
And a shadow minister said the move was “extremely disheartening”.
The two-child benefit cap has previously been described by Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner as “obscene and inhumane” and by shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth as “heinous”. Ms Rayner is set to face a grilling over the policy on Monday evening at a meeting of Labour’s parliamentary party.
Sir Keir himself, while running to become Labour leader, said scrapping the policy was one of his “ideas to tackle the vast social injustice in our country”.
But asked on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg if he would scrap the cap, which means support is only provided for the first two children in a family, Sir Keir said: “We’re not changing that policy.”
A shadow minister told The Independent there was “a lot of unhappiness” among MPs in the party and “a lot of lobbying” to force a change.
“It is extremely disheartening and contradictory to our policies to actually level up the country and bring children out of poverty to enable them to smash the class ceiling.” The shadow minister said the party needs to “win to make change”, but also “needs to offer hope to win”.
Another shadow minister told The Independent they were “not happy” with the U-turn.
And a left-wing Labour MP said the U-turn raised questions about “what is the point of Labour?” They said: “If we are not going to prioritise the poorest children in this country, who have been victimised by one of austerity’s cruellest policies, then what is the point of us?
“It is shocking, and the opponents of this will not be the usual suspects, it will be the straw the broke the camel’s back for many.”
Starmer said he doesn’t mind ‘ruffling feathers’ with Labour left— (Jeff Overs/BBC/AFP/Getty)
A slew of Labour frontbenchers have publicly opposed the two-child cap on benefits in the past, including shadow transport secretary Louse Haigh, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy.
The policy prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
In a sign Labour was set to scrap the policy, Mr Ashworth said in June that it was “heinous” and was “absolutely keeping children in poverty”.
Among the senior Labour MPs openly expressing their unease about the U-turn, Meg Hillier, chair of the public accounts committee told BBC’s Westminster Hour: “Well, I was never comfortable about having the child benefit cap come in … personally, I’d be lobbying for a lifting of that.”
Jonathan Ashworth had called the cap ‘heinous’— (PA Archive)
And Stephen Timms, chair of the work and pensions committee, said the policy “only really makes sense if you think that families should not have more than two children”. He told the i: “As time goes on, the case for the two-child limit will be increasingly hard to make.”
Left-wing Labour MP Zarah Sultana said the policy “absolutely should be abolished”. “The two-child limit is an unspeakably cruel policy, inflicting destitution and misery on children and parents,” she said.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said that Scottish Labour is opposed to the cap and will “press” Sir Keir to scrap it if the party wins power at the next general election.
“We continue to oppose the two child limit,” he told the Daily Record, adding that “we will continue to press any incoming UK Labour government to move as fast as they can within our fiscal rules to remove this heinous policy”.
And Canterbury Labour MP Rosie Duffield described the two-child policy as “one of the most unpleasant pieces of legislation ever to have been passed in the UK”.
She tweeted: “It’s very rare for someone to enter the House of Commons having been on tax credits, but myself and a few others did in 2017; scrapping this cruel policy was one of our shared political motives.”
The two-child benefit cap was introduced by austerity architect George Osborne— (Getty)
Jeremy Corbyn also lashed out at Mr Starmer, saying there was “no justification for keeping children in poverty”. He said Labour should be “fighting for a society where they [children] can all unleash their imagination, pursue their dreams and reach their full potential”.
Mr Corbyn’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the party needed an “honest and fundamental discussion in the Labour party about child poverty” because it was “obvious some in the party don’t fully appreciate its impact”.
And the left-wing campaign group Momentum said Sir Keir was “siding with the Daily Mail” when it comes to the “cruel” two-child benefit cap. And one of Labour’s biggest union backers also waded into the row over the policy, branding it “cruel” and part of a failed austerity programme.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said the union has always campaigned against the two-child cap, “because punishing children to ‘encourage’ their parents is not only cruel, but it totally misunderstands the root causes of poverty”.
Even the Fabian Society, a Labour affiliate sympathetic to Starmer, criticised the plan to keep the cap as “nasty dog whistle”. General secretary Andrew Harrop said he was “not going to pretend I’m happy with Labour’s new line”.
Save the Children also criticised Sir Keir’s comments. Dan Paskins, director of UK impact said the party “need to be clear on where they stand on this issue – and fast”.
The former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield tweeted: “The two-child benefit cap is an unfair, bad policy, and it should be scrapped by whoever is in government.”
Grilled on Labour’s plans on Monday, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Labour had to “make sure that the proposals we put forward are fully costed and funded so that we can actually deliver them”.
No 10 confirmed that the Tory government will maintain the two-child cap, with Rishi Sunak’s spokesman saying: “There are no plans to change that that I’m aware of.” Asked if the PM wanted to keep the welfare bill under control, his spokesman said: “Yes, of course.”
