Andy Burnham has urged Keir Starmer to eliminate the two-child benefit limit, stating that there is no ethical justification for continuing the policy. This plea comes as the government contemplates either scrapping or softening the Tory-era policy, which has been accused of ensnaring hundreds of thousands of children in poverty.
The Greater Manchester Mayor, Mr. Burnham, and Liverpool City Region Mayor, Steve Rotheram, have recommended adopting Gordon Brown’s proposal. The former Labour Prime Minister suggested increasing gambling taxes in the Budget to generate funds for addressing high levels of child poverty.
Speaking at an event with The Mirror’s Real Britain columnist Ros-Wynne Jones, Mr. Burnham implored the party to remove the two-child benefit cap, emphasizing the positive impact it would have on children living in poverty in various cities. He suggested implementing this change through either a gambling tax or a wealth tax as a viable solution.
Mr. Burnham highlighted that abolishing the two-child benefit limit would uplift the party’s morale and criticized Labour’s decision to penalize seven MPs who opposed the policy last summer. He emphasized that during his time in the Labour government under Brown and Blair, nobody faced repercussions for taking a principled stand.
Recent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed that abolishing the two-child policy, which restricts benefits to the first two children in a family, could lift 630,000 children out of poverty in the long run. The government is expected to release the results of its child poverty review, including a review of this policy, later this year.
Liverpool City Region Mayor, Mr. Rotheram, expressed his admiration for London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s policy on free school meals and expressed a desire to implement a similar initiative, noting the financial challenges in doing so.
Additionally, Mr. Burnham urged Labour to prioritize addressing the cost-of-living crisis by reducing people’s expenses, suggesting interventions to lower various bills and transport fares, as well as potentially introducing reforms to lower council tax and overall living costs for struggling individuals.