Starmer says Reform UK and Tories are in ‘cruel alliance’, as bill to get rid of two-child benefit cap unveiled – UK politics live

The legislation will be introduced today and the government says it will lift almost 500,000 children out of povertyGood morning. Today is an important day for anti-poverty policy because the government is publishing its universal credit (removal of two-child limit) bill, the legislation that will implement the budget pledge to get rid of the Tory law that removed child-related UC benefit payments for third and subsequent children. The government says this will lift almost 500,000 children out of poverty – making this the biggest single anti child poverty measure implemented by a government in modern times.Keir Starmer is on a visit this morning publicising the legislation. What is interesting about this is that, before the 2024 general election, Starmer was not just not committing to get rid of the cap; he was presenting that as evidence to voters that Labour would be tough on spending. In July 2023 he told Laura Kuenssberg he was “not changing that policy”. And, when challenged about this two days later at a conference with a leftwing audience, he said:We keep saying collectively as a party that we have to make tough decisions. And in the abstract, everyone says: ‘That’s right Keir.’ But then we get into the tough decision – we’ve been in one of those for the last few days – and they say: ‘We don’t like that, can we just not make that one, I’m sure there is another tough decision somewhere else we can make.’ But we have to take the tough decisions.Nigel Farage seems intent on linking arms with the Conservatives in a cruel alliance to push kids who need help back into poverty. This child poverty pact is something that should worry us all. These aren’t numbers on a spreadsheet – these are children’s life chances at stake.Labour chooses the other road – lifting almost half a million kids out of child poverty – and that’s what we’re doing this year. It’s the right thing to do for them, their families and our economy. It’s astonishing that Reform and the Tories would undo that change and leave a lost generation of kids in every corner of Britain.We came into office with a manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty. We did it the last time we were in power. Child poverty has risen by about 900,000 since 2010.I don’t see this just as a cash transfer in terms of that £3 billion, I see it as an investment in children’s future, because we know that children from the poorest families will end up doing less well at school, less than a quarter of them get five good GCSEs, we know they’re four times more likely to have mental health problems later in life. Continue reading...