“Removing the two-child cap on benefits would be the single most cost effective & impactful policy to immediately alleviate child poverty levels in this country.”
By Labour Outlook
in a move which is being welcomed by anti-poverty campaigners, trade unionists, left activists and many others throughout the country, Kim Johnson MP – with the support of a number of other MPs listed below – has put down an amendment to the Kings Speech calling on “the Government to abolish the two-child cap on benefits, which would immediately lift 300,000 children out of relative poverty.”
Writing recently for this site, Kim explained that abolishing the cap would “deliver an immediate boost to living standards and life chances for those most in need” and powerfully said, “Every day we delay, children are suffering the consequences of desperate poverty and inequality. Things will only get worse until this inhumane policy is scrapped.”
The amendment in full reads as follows:
Add at end ‘but respectfully regret that the Gracious Speech does not include measures to remove the two-child cap on benefits; note that it is widely considered by economists and civil society organisations that removing the two-child cap on benefits would be the single most cost effective and impactful policy to immediately alleviate child poverty levels in this country; and call on the Government to abolish the two-child cap on benefits, which would immediately lift 300,000 children out of relative poverty.’
The initial signatories as published on the morning of July 18 supporting the amendment were as follows:
Kim Johnson, John McDonnell, Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck, Zarah Sultana, Mary Kelly Foy, Ian Lavery
Plus Nadia Whittome, Rosie Duffield, Richard Burgon, Kate Osborne, Rebecca Long Bailey, Imran Hussain, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Jon Trickett, Grahame Morris, Ms Apsana Begum.
- Kim Johnson MP is the MP for Liverpool Riverside, you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Tik Tok. Read her recent piece Time to scrap the two-child benefit cap here.
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