Andy Burnham has urged Keir Starmer to eliminate the two-child benefit limit, stating that there is no ethical justification for the policy to persist. This appeal coincides with the government’s deliberation on scrapping or softening the Tory-era policy, which has been held responsible for ensnaring hundreds of thousands of children in poverty.
The Greater Manchester Mayor, Mr. Burnham, and the Liverpool City Region Mayor, Steve Rotheram, have advocated for adopting Gordon Brown’s suggestion to increase gambling taxes during the Budget to generate funds for addressing the significant levels of child poverty.
In a conversation with The Mirror’s Real Britain columnist Ros-Wynne Jones, Mr. Burnham passionately requested the party to remove the two-child benefit cap, emphasizing the positive impact it would have on alleviating child poverty in various regions. He proposed implementing this change through either a gambling tax or a wealth tax, emphasizing the necessity of such actions.
Mr. Burnham highlighted that abolishing the policy would help uplift the morale within the party and criticized Labour’s decision to withdraw the whip from seven MPs who opposed the party on the two-child benefit limit. He underscored that such disciplinary actions were not common during his tenure under Brown and Blair’s Labour government.
Recent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed that eliminating the two-child benefit limit could potentially lift 630,000 children out of poverty in the long run. The government is anticipated to release the outcomes of its child poverty review later this year, which includes an evaluation of this policy.
Furthermore, Mayor Rotheram expressed his admiration for the free school meals policy implemented by Mayor Sadiq Khan in London, emphasizing the financial challenges faced by other regions in implementing similar measures.
Mr. Burnham also urged Labour to prioritize addressing the cost-of-living crisis by implementing measures to reduce people’s expenses. He suggested interventions to decrease various bills, such as transportation fares and council taxes, aiming to alleviate the financial burdens faced by individuals struggling with high living costs.
