BACKBENCH MPs have backed former chancellor Gordon Brown’s call to scrap the two-child benefit cap by imposing an online gambling tax and banking levy.

He also called on current Chancellor Rachel Reeves to exempt the government’s pledge to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 from her borrowing rules after leading economists warned she faced a £51bn financial blackhole.

“At the Budget the government has one straightforward choice: gambling will not build our country for the next generation, but children free from poverty will,” he said.

Worthing West MP Dr Beccy Cooper said: “Today, Gordon Brown has launched his campaign to tax online gambling to raise money to address the unacceptable levels of child poverty in the UK. 

“I support this call and will be writing to the Chancellor to ask her to levy this tax in the Budget.”

Positive Money campaign group’s Hannah Dewhirst said: “Gordon Brown is absolutely right to call for higher taxes on the gambling industry and on the biggest gamblers of all: the banks.”

A spokeswoman for Momentum said: “Clearly the government has many options of raising revenue in ways that are redistributive, of which taxing gambling more is one.

“Gordon Brown’s intervention shows that this government has no excuse not to reverse the heinous Tory policies such as the two-child benefit cap.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are consulting on bringing the treatment of online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy — it is not about increasing or decreasing rates, and we welcome views from all stakeholders including businesses, trade bodies, the third sector and individuals.”