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10
Nov
North Yorkshire mayor joins calls for two-child benefit cap to be scrapped
David Skaith, the Labour Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, has joined calls to lift the two-child benefit cap.
The cap, which was introduced by the Conservative government in 2017, means parents can only claim benefits for their first two children.
The policy has proved contentious in the Labour Party, with backbench MPs and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown putting pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to scrap the cap to alleviate poverty.
Ms Reeves will unveil her Budget plans to the House of Commons on November 26.
Now, Mr Skaith has joined other northern metro mayors in lobbying the Chancellor to reverse the policy as part of her Budget plans.
In a letter to Ms Reeves, the mayors said the move would help to lift around 630,000 children out of poverty nationwide — including 100,000 in the north.
The letter, which has been signed by mayors including Tracy Brabin, West Yorkshire mayor, Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire mayor, Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor and Luke Campbell MBE, Hull and East Yorkshire mayor, said the move was one of the “most cost-effective and immediate levers to reduce poverty”.
It added:
The North is already developing innovative approaches to prevention and inclusive growth to tackle child poverty.
To go further we are united in our call for you to lift the two-child benefit cap — a policy change that would lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, including over 100,000 in the North.
Many Northern communities are disproportionately affected by the two-child benefit cap, with higher rates of child poverty. Its impact is most acute in areas of entrenched disadvantage.
The two-child benefit cap has proved contentious within Labour since they won a landslide election victory last year.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer suspended seven Labour MPs for six months for voting to scrap the cap just weeks after taking power.
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