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Sir keir starmer has indicated that he may scrap Benefit limit for two children But BudgetAdding that he is “determined” to reduce child poverty.
The Prime Minister said the government would take “a number of measures” to tackle the issue, amid speculation the cap would be changed or scrapped altogether after pressure from Labor MPs.
This is the latest indication that the cap may be removed at a later date Rachel Reeves “Letting child poverty go unchecked comes at a cost to our economy,” it said on Monday.
In a clip broadcast on ITV LORRAINE At the event on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said: “I can tell you clearly I am determined to reduce child poverty. This is what the previous Labor government did, and it is one of the things we are proud of.
“I’m personally adamant that that’s what we’re going to do. You won’t have to wait much longer to see what the measures are.”
Pressed on whether this would include getting rid of the cap, the PM said: “We won’t have to wait much longer. But I wouldn’t be telling you we were going to reduce child poverty if I wasn’t clear that we would be taking a number of measures to do that.”
The Chancellor is going to present her budget on 26 November. On Monday, he told BBC 5 Live: “In the end, a child should not be penalized because their parents don’t have a lot of money.
“Now, in many cases you’ll have both a mother and father at work, but maybe one of them has developed a chronic illness, maybe one of them has died. There are a lot of reasons why people decide to have three, four kids, but then find themselves in difficult times.”
He added, “So, we will take action on child poverty. At last.” Labor The government has proudly reduced child poverty, and we will also reduce child poverty.”
two child limit – which was first announced by the Conservatives in 2015 and came into force in 2017 – restricts Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit (UC) to the first two children in most households.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that lifting the cap would cost around £3.6 billion and lift around 630,000 children out of poverty.
This comes after former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was confident the two-child rule would be addressed.
“We are waiting Rachel Reeves“I think it will be mentioned in the budget,” he told Sky News.
The Chancellor also gave his biggest hint yet that the Government may break its manifesto promises on tax BudgetHe said it would be “possible” for ministers to stick to their election promises. But warned that doing so would mean “deep cuts” in other areas of spending.,
In recent days, speculation has increased that the Chancellor is preparing to increase the post income tax In Budget Since she wants to balance the country’s books.
LaborThe 2024 general election campaign manifesto promised that the party would not increase income taxVAT, or Employee National Insurance Contributions.
Ms Reeves said that when Labor made its manifesto, “it had our spending commitments and then the tax changes that would be needed to pay for them… The truth is that what we have inherited is much worse.”
Emphasizing the party’s commitment to the manifesto, the Chancellor told the BBC: “I will set out options in the Budget. It would certainly be possible to stick to the manifesto commitments, but it would require things like deep cuts in capital spending.”