SIR KEIR STARMER could be on course to receive a bloody nose over his refusal to scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap as left Labour MPs vow to stage a Commons rebellion tonight.
MPs are set to back an SNP amendment calling for the cap to be axed after the Prime Minister scrambled to indicate for the first time that he will consider scrapping it.
The amendment to the King’s Speech debate was supported by Plaid Cymru, the Green Party, the SDLP, the Alliance Party and independent MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana told Parliament this afternoon that “if the Labour Party has a moral mission, it must be to eradicate poverty.
“After 14 years of Conservatives, we have a record 4.3 million children growing up in poverty.
“Everyone knows the evidence is overwhelming: the key driver of child poverty is the two-child benefit cap and the single most effective way of tackling child poverty in immediately lifting 300,000 children out of poverty by scrapping this cruel policy.
“It’s a move backed by all the 11 trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party … the TUC, which represents six million workers, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury and Save the Children.
“With a 1 per cent wealth tax on assets over £10 million you can raise the funds for this policy three times over — kids should not have to suffer a single day in avoidable poverty.”
Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne said earlier today that ministers have a “historic mandate for change to end the destruction of working-class communities, decimation of public services, end austerity and to create opportunities which will lift millions of people out of poverty.
“The shameful legacy of the previous government and its austerity agenda is that 43 per cent of children in West Derby are now living in poverty.
“The reason I’m in this place is to ensure that these children and others like them are given a chance to thrive and live their best lives under a government that supports them rather than confines them to a life of limited opportunities from an early age.
“That’s why I’m supporting wholly the removal of the two-child cap of benefits, which will immediately lift 300,000 children out of poverty.”
The cap was introduced by Conservative then-chancellor George Osborne in 2015 and restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.
Against the background of rising child poverty — with more than four million children now living in low-income households — the Prime Minister has been urged by charities, opposition parties and some of his own MPs to abolish the limit.
Speaking ahead of the debate, Labour’s Poplar and Limehouse MP Apsana Begum said: “The two-child limit in was an appalling attack on our communities and scrapping it is a straightforward act that could lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and send out a positive message of hope.”
Earlier today, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall insisted that government has to do “the sums” before committing to axing the cap.
The Prime Minister has also said there is “no silver bullet” to end child poverty but acknowledged the “passion” of Labour MPs furious over the continuation of the Tory measure.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “Keir Starmer must not fail his first major test in government by refusing to scrap the cap.
“It is the bare minimum required to tackle child poverty — and to begin to deliver the change that people in Scotland were promised.”
Labour’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he would vote for the SNP change after 37 Labour MPs’ own amendment to scrap the two-child limit was not called.
“I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments, but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party,” Mr McDonnell said.
Kim Johnson and Rosie Duffield were also among the Labour MPs who have urged Sir Keir to change tack, after even right-wing former home secretary Suella Braverman spoke on Monday to support scrapping the limit.
