Keir Starmer’s two-child benefit cap U-turn risks rift with Scottish Labour as MSPs say it ‘must be scrapped’

A major policy U-turn which has prompted internal backlash among Labour MPs in Westminster risks causing a further rift with Scottish Labour.

Several MSPs have spoken out against Keir Starmer’s decision to keep the two-child benefit cap, which the Labour leader confirmed to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg over the weekend.

Two former party leaders and a number of senior MSPs have criticised the policy and called for Starmer to change tact, while Anas Sarwar, the party’s leader in Scotland, has been forced to defend the widely unpopular decision.

The two-child benefit cap prevents families from receiving tax credit and universal credit for more than two children. Sometimes referred to as the “rape clause,” there is an exemption to the policy for children conceived via rape, although women must prove they have been raped to make use of it.

Benefit cap is ‘the biggest driver of child poverty’

Former leadership contender Monica Lennon has been among MSPs leading the call for Keir Starmer to change his position on the two-child benefit cap, with shadow mental health minister Paul Sweeney also saying the policy “must be scrapped”.

Lennon, who first spoke out about the policy last week after Starmer first seemed to rule out removing the cap, said Scottish Labour “will always oppose the heinous two-child benefit cap and rape clause”.

She added: “It’s not acceptable in Scotland or any part of the UK, and [Labour Party] policy must always reflect this.”

She also referenced the party’s upcoming policy forum, due to take place this weekend, saying Starmer ”has a tough job to do but he doesn’t have to do it alone. At the weekend the National Policy Forum is an opportunity to draw on the expertise and experience of our members and affiliates”.

On Twitter, Glasgow MSP Sweeney shared an open letter from a number of charities including Barnado’s, the NSPCC and Save The Children calling for an end to the policy. The letter states that the policy is a breach of children’s human rights and “the biggest driver of rising child poverty in the UK today”.

Sweeney wrote: “A third of Glasgow’s children live in poverty. Life expectancy has stalled for the first time. £1.3bn to abolish the two-child limit would lift 250,000 children out of poverty, and 850,000 more would be in less deep poverty. It is obviously cost-effective. It must be scrapped.”

North East Scotland MSP Mercedes Villalba said Labour MSP and MPs were all elected on a pledge to scrap the two-child limit and there is “no justification” for changing this position now.

She said: "The two-child limit has trapped 250,000 children in deep poverty. Scrapping it is one of those rare policies that has widespread support across the spectrum: with the public, across civil society, across Party divides. It costs relatively little, it tackles poverty head on, in turn improving health and education outcomes, it pays dividends to the economy. It is the right thing to do on every level by any measure.

"That’s why in 2019 UK Labour pledged to scrap the two-child limit. And why in 2020 Keir Starmer pledged to scrap the two-child limit. And why in 2021 Scottish Labour pledged to scrap the two-child limit. Every single sitting Labour MSP and MP was elected on a pledge to scrap the two-child limit.

"There is no justification for a change to this position now, especially when to do so goes against our very values, and all reason. I am not campaigning for a change in Party policy, I am calling for existing Party policy to be honoured and for our democratic policy development process to be followed.”

‘A sensible approach’

The widespread criticism has forced Sarwar to try and bridge the gap between his MSP and the party leadership in Westminster.

Speaking to the Scotsman, Sarwar said he believed it was a “sensible” and “grown-up” approach for Labour not to promise fixes for every problem straight away if the party is elected. He also warned that the party must not repeat the mistakes of Liz Truss’ mini-budget and cause concern among financial markets by getting fiscal policy wrong.

He said: “I will continue to urge them [UK Labour] to move as fast as they can to address the issue of the two child cap, but cognisant of the fact that they have to do it within the fiscal rules that are set because we cannot have a repeat of the Kwasi Kwarteng/Liz Truss

budget that means if we get it wrong, and we spook the markets, it means higher interest rates, higher ination and higher mortgage payments for people across the country."

“I continue to believe that it is a heinous policy that is doing damage to families across the country and that it is exacerbating poverty. I know that my colleagues in the UK party continue to believe that as well. But what they are being up front and straight about is we have to look at the financial circumstances that we’ll find ourselves in.

He added: "What they have done is they’ve committed to reforming Universal Credit. They recognise this needs addressed, but what they have not yet done is set a timetable for when that can be addressed because of that economic climate. I think that is a sensible approach.”

Former Labour leaders Richard Leonard and Kezia Dugdale have both made indirect references to Starmer’s policy u-turn on Twitter, with Leonard sharing a Tweet by Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner from 2020 in which she called for the policy to be scrapped.

Dugdale, who is no longer an MSP but led the party in Scotland between 2015 and 2017, shared a video of her speech in parliament speaking out against the ‘rape clause’.