Workers Party welcomes Labour Party reversal on child benefits
Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have said they expect to respond to recommendations of the child poverty taskforce at the budget, which is expected to say that lifting the two-child limit for universal credit and child tax credit would be one of the most effective ways to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. The Worker Party is glad to learn that the Labour leadership has caved to pressure exemplified by motions brought by Trade Unions and Labour Party branches to scrap the two-child benefit cap. This sent a clear message to the Chancellor and Prime Minister that the Labour grassroots -such as they are - are not prepared to continue with policies that leave children in poverty. We must note that Starmer is also reacting to growing electoral support for Farage’s Reform Party.
Scrapping the two-child limit could lift 250,000 children out of poverty overnight and reduce the level of poverty for a further 850,000 children. The Workers Party has been calling for this change of policy for a considerable number of years. Scrapping the two-child cap would cost £1.3 billion, however, it is estimated that child poverty costs the economy £39 billion each year. For a Government that claims it wants to put the economy on a firm footing, this should be a no-brainer. The Independent newspaper reports the cap "may be completely lifted, limited to working parents, or replaced with a three-child limit". Progressives within the Labour Party must fight tooth and nail for a complete removal of the limit.
It is an absolute scandal that nearly one million children across the United Kingdom are living in different levels of poverty in the fifth richest country in the world. No child should have to go to bed hungry, cold, or in below-standard, or temporary housing accommodation. Our children deserve more; our children are entitled to more.
I hope that the message that comes out of the conference is loud and clear that workers' rights, pensioners' rights, children's rights, are a priority, and that what we need is welfare not warfare.
October 1st 2025