AS Labour gathers for its annual conference, a deep unease hangs over the event. There is a widespread feeling among party members and the wider public that we are not seeing the change we were promised at the general election.

At the heart of this discontent is the government’s refusal to scrap one of the cruellest policies of the last Conservative government: the two-child benefit cap.

Let me be absolutely clear. This policy is morally indefensible. It punishes larger families for the supposed crime of having more than two children. Some people might argue that it is irresponsible to have more than two children.

Even if that were true, it is not the fault of the third child, who is no less of a human being because they have two older siblings. On what grounds are they blocked from receiving financial support?

There is no economic or moral justification for it — only an ideological one. It is a long-standing Tory tradition to demonise the poor. The result is that nearly half a million children have been pushed into poverty. That’s not my opinion. That is the Resolution Foundation’s conclusion.

Since Labour was founded, it has been our mission to lift people out of poverty. Instead of using our first months in office to abolish this vicious policy, the government chose to maintain it. We’re told that £3.5 billion is too expensive. Yet the government found a similar amount to increase defence spending. 

When faced with the choice of feeding hungry children or the war machine, they chose weapons over welfare. Money for US arms companies appears to be of greater importance to this government than abolishing poverty.

The TUC recently passed a motion calling for “wages not weapons” and demanding investment in public services after more than a decade of austerity. This marked a significant break from previous TUC positions and reflects a broader sentiment across the movement that Britain needs rebuilding, not rearming.

There is some hope that the Labour Party conference may push things in the right direction. Despite efforts by the party leadership to block debate on the two-child cap, it now appears a motion will be heard. It has united the broad left and centre of the party: Compass, Open Labour and Momentum are backing it.

Even trade unions like Unison, whose general secretary is often said to be allied with Keir Starmer, have a clear position in support of abolishing the cap. It is a rare and significant moment of unity across the labour movement.

All except for the Labour right, who increasingly dominate Starmer’s Cabinet.

We hear that the government remains unmoved. Briefings to journalists say scrapping the cap is not affordable “at this time.” But affordability is a political choice, not an economic inevitability.

Robert Peston recently reported that the Treasury faces a £30 billion shortfall in the autumn Budget, due in large part to the Office for Budget Responsibility downgrading productivity forecasts. To close the gap, the government is reportedly preparing tax rises while somehow aiming to honour pledges not to increase income tax, VAT, National Insurance or corporation tax.

There is no suggestion at this moment that they will pursue wealth taxes either. It has been suggested that they will opt for further cuts to welfare and public spending. This includes delaying key anti-poverty measures like scrapping the two-child cap.

The government is boxed in by its own economic dogma. Labour’s fiscal rules are overly restrictive and based on discredited assumptions. It was always obvious that infrastructure investment takes years to bear fruit.

But the British people need change now. Our hospitals, schools, local councils and transport networks are crumbling. The country doesn’t function as it should. Yet the government’s macroeconomic policy is in danger of pushing us further down the path of more cuts.

We’ve had 15 years of this. Austerity hollowed out the state, and the collapse in investment meant low productivity and lower wages. It’s a slow-motion car crash. 

Trust in politics is at an all-time low as a consequence. Reform UK is capitalising on popular discontent, and unless the Labour government takes decisive action to improve people’s lives, it will continue to grow.

Working-class families are struggling to pay rent and heat their homes. There are levers Labour could pull now, such as rent controls, energy caps and price regulation. Rising poverty demands urgent action.

Meanwhile, the 50 richest families in Britain now hold more wealth than half of the population. This is a deeply warped society. But more and more people have cottoned on to the truth that the poor are getting poorer because the rich are getting richer. The system is working exactly as it was designed: funnelling wealth upwards.

Our party seems increasingly captured by elite interests. Instead of fighting for working people, we give the impression that we are pandering to the rich in the discredited hope that wealth will somehow trickle down.

Labour Party members have a chance to fight back this week. The debate on the two-child cap is a chance to show the government that our movement still has a moral compass. The immediate step we can take is to urge the conference to stand up for what is right. With one voice, let’s reassert Labour’s core mission. Scrap the cap!

Jon Trickett is MP for Normanton and Hemsworth.