Labour has failed the first big test of government by ignoring the national scandal of child poverty.
The SNP has led calls to tackle child poverty for years, while Labour has performed u-turn after u-turn on the issue.
Despite heavy pressure from across the political spectrum, Labour is steadfastly refusing to scrap the two child limit, a Tory austerity policy that is keeping children in poverty and punishing vulnerable families.
According to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), 1 in 9 children are affected by the two child limit.
That’s more than 1.6 million children.
The policy is actively causing deprivation and every year, it pushes more children into poverty. Labour is making the political choice to keep the limit in place.
Failing to act on behalf of Britain’s most vulnerable families is nothing short of a dereliction of duty.
In Scotland, the SNP has defied the constraints of devolution to deliver game-changing policies like the Scottish Child Payment – an entitlement that is available only in Scotland and is lifting more than 100,000 children out of poverty.
Since its introduction just three years ago, it has been increased from £10 to £26.70. That’s an increase of well over over 150%.
Your SNP Scottish Government is putting its money where its mouth is, showing that it is serious about tackling the scourge of child poverty.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, confirmed on BBC Breakfast that the UK Government would not scrap the two-child cap in the King’s Speech.
Instead, the Labour government would do well to follow Scotland’s example.
Fourteen years of toxic Tory rule has meant 1 in 6 people in the UK now live in poverty.
Labour’s programme for government is failing to shape up to the radical reset the UK needs to emerge from the shadow of Tory government. By continuing Tory policies, Sir Kier Starmer is choosing to push thousands of Scottish children into poverty.
The SNP’s leader in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, will table an amendment to end the two child cap – and he has challenged Labour MPs in Scotland to vote for it or take responsibility for the child poverty they will be causing by failing to scrap the cap.
Scrapping the two child benefit cap is the bare minimum required to tackle child poverty. In Scotland, the SNP government has led the UK in tackling poverty, introducing progressive measures including the Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Baby Box, and spending millions of pounds mitigating punitive Westminster policies like the Bedroom Tax.
It is time for Labour to take a leaf out of Scotland’s book, and do the right thing.
