Renfrewshire Liberal Democrats have called for the two-child limit on benefit payments to be scrapped, describing Labour’s commitment to the "heartless and harmful" policy as “shameful.”
It comes after an SNP-tabled amendment to the King’s speech calling for the removal of the two-child limit was voted down in Westminster this week.
The Lib Dems said that the two-child benefit cap - introduced by the Conservatives in 2017 and continued by the new Labour government - affects over 1.5 million children across the UK, and that “in Renfrewshire alone, 2550 children are affected and many live in poverty as a result.”
With Labour and the Conservatives currently supporting the cap, the Lib Dems claim they are “the only major UK-wide party committed to scrapping it.”
Local Liberal Democrat Councillor, Anne Hannigan, said: “The two-child limit on benefits is a heartless and harmful policy that has had no impact other than to help plunge local families into poverty.”
“It’s shameful that Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Government are committed to keeping this cruel Conservative policy. There really is very little difference between Labour and the Conservatives, but the Lib Dems are on the side of local people.”
Local campaigner Jack Clark, who stood for the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the general election, added:
“Cancelling the two child limit on benefit payments will immediately lift 250,000 children out of poverty in the UK, and significantly reduce poverty for a further 850,000 children. It would help thousands of local families as the cost of living continues to rise. It’s simply the right thing to do.”
During Prime Minister’s Questions this week, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn challenged Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his party’s stance on the cap.
Starmer replied: “The last Labour Government lifted millions of children out of poverty, something we’re very proud of.
“And this government will approach the question with the same vigour, with our new task force already we’ve taken steps on breakfast clubs, abolishing no-fault evictions, decent home standards, Alab’s law and a plan to make work pay.
“But I would just say this: before he lectures everyone else, he should explain why since the SNP came to power there are 30,000 more children in poverty in Scotland.”
Despite Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar previously calling for an end to the two-child limit, MP for East Renfrewshire Blair McDougall insisted this week that Scottish Labour had an “identical position” on the cap to their Labour UK colleagues, amid claims of a rift between the two.
The Gazette attempted to contact Renfrewshire's two Labour MPs for comment. Johanna Baxter, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, said:
"Scottish Labour MPs voted for a transformative King’s Speech that will deliver a New Deal for Working People that will tackle exploitative employment practices and low pay, deliver action to bring down bills and establish a cross departmental child poverty taskforce.
“We want to see the Two Child Cap lifted when the financial situation allows – but we will not make promises to the Scottish people that we cannot keep.
“With child poverty having risen in Scotland due to SNP incompetence and Tory misrule, this Labour government is acting to put money into the pockets of working Scots and to bring down bills for all.”
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