Scrap two-child limit and other policies ‘deepening’ poverty, group urges Labour

A campaign group has been launched to urge the Labour leadership to commit to repealing the two-child limit on benefits immediately on entering government after Keir Starmer was widely criticised for saying the party plans to retain the Tory policy.

The Labour Campaign to End Child Poverty was launched this week to demand that the party tackle child poverty as an “urgent priority”, including committing to scrap the two-child limit as a “first step”.

The campaign – set up by a group of Labour women and involving local councillors, former parliamentary candidates and other party members – is also calling on Labour to commit in its next manifesto to axe other coalition-era social security measures that “deepen child poverty”.

The group is urging the party to pledge to repeal the benefit cap, the bedroom tax, the five-week wait for Universal Credit and sanctions and payments deducted at source from Universal Credit, as well as demanding that Labour restores ringfenced funding for local councils to provide crisis support for families.

Jane Middleton, one of the campaign’s founders, told LabourList: “Labour has a proud tradition of fighting child poverty – from the Attlee government’s introduction of family allowances and free school milk, to Barbara Castle’s Child Benefit Act 1975 and New Labour’s child tax credits and child trust funds.

“Gordon Brown called child poverty “a scar on the soul of Britain”. After 13 years of Conservative government, that scar is unforgivably deep. We need a comprehensive programme of action from a Labour government to ensure that, in future, all children get the secure and happy childhood they deserve.”

The campaign group is also calling on Labour to expand its plans for free school breakfast clubs for primary school pupils to secondary schools and to extend free school meals to all children living in households in receipt of Universal Credit.

It is urging the party to commit to offering maximum support to children from families with no recourse to public funds, as well as calling for a target to be set to end the need for food banks.

The group is seeking to build cross-party support for its objectives and has drafted a model motion on scrapping the two-child limit, which it is encouraging local Labour Parties and affiliates to submit to party conference.

The motion notes that Labour’s opportunity ‘mission’ – one of the five missions that will form the basis of the party’s next election manifesto – includes a “focus on reducing child poverty”.

The motion argues that Labour “cannot achieve its objective of reducing child poverty without scrapping the two-child limit”, adding that abolishing the policy “will have an immediate beneficial impact on children suffering hardship”.

The Labour leader faced widespread criticism after he told the BBC last month that the party is “not changing” the two-child limit policy, with Labour MPs from across the party’s spectrum speaking out against the move.

John McDonnell called for an “honest and fundamental discussion” within the party about child poverty “because it’s obvious some in the party don’t fully appreciate its impact”, while Rosie Duffield condemned the two-child limit as “one of the most unpleasant pieces of legislation ever to have been passed in the UK”.

Gingerbread – the charity for single-parent families – wrote to Labour MPs following Starmer’s announcement, urging them to join the charity in “calling for an end to this toxic and damaging policy”, which it said is “directly responsible for plunging over a million children into poverty (or deeper poverty)”.

The Labour Party was approached for comment.