Wishart demands two-child benefit cap U-turn from Starmer

Published date : 20 July, 2023

News Release from Pete Wishart MP

Attn: News Desk For immediate release 20 July 2023

Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, and his SNP Westminster colleagues have written a joint letter to Sir Keir Starmer, demanding an immediate U-turn on the cruel two-child benefit cap.

It follows new analysis, conducted by the SNP, showing 540 households in Perth and Kinross, who are in receipt of Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits, have been hit by the policy and did not receive support for at least one child. This means that 53% of households in Perth and Kinross who are in receipt of Universal Credit or a Child Tax Credit are not receiving these benefits for at least one child.

The analysis also revealed that 20,000 children across Scotland have been pushed into poverty this year as a result of the two-child cap. It comes amid a growing backlash against the Labour party's admission that it would keep the two-child cap, and may keep other damaging Tory cuts.

Commenting, Mr Wishart said:

"Starmer’s refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap has rightly been condemned by charities and politicians alike, including many of his own colleagues both at Westminster and at Holyrood.

"The evidence is clear: the two-child benefit cap drags children into poverty, but also predominately impacts working families too – families who are already struggling to get by in the UK’s low-wage Brexit-based economy. So much so that in Perth and Kinross alone this policy has impacted 540 households who are in receipt of Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits.

"This is a shameful legacy that the Tories have created, and one that the Labour Party is set to continue. A failure to U-turn will mean the Labour Party have abandoned thousands of families in Scotland to poverty - leaving voters in no doubt that voting SNP is the only way to secure independence and get rid of damaging Westminster governments for good.”

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

Full tables for local authorities across Scotland and the UK available here (Table 9) - https://mcusercontent.com/4fae14f57a18ee08253ffc251/files/734a0fc6-ee34-a6bf-8a42-1bfc7f78f499/Data_Tables_UC_and_Child_Tax_Credit_Claimants.ods

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