A DWP minister has said the UK “cannot carry on” with current poverty levels for large families amid calls from MPs to scrap the two child benefit cap.
Torsten Bell vowed to reduce child poverty yesterday, saying Britain cannot carry on with a situation where huge percentages of large families are in poverty.
Responding to Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey’s call to scrap the cap, Bell said: “We’ve said clearly that all levers to reduce child poverty are on the table.
“The child poverty strategy will be published in the autumn, but we’re not waiting for that. We’ve already seen action, as I said earlier on, free school meals. It’s another reason why we do need to see more support for energy bills, in particular for insulating homes, because if we look at who is struggling most, having to turn off their heating, it is actually younger families with children that are struggling with that.
“So she’s absolutely right to raise this issue. It is one of the core purposes of this government. We cannot carry on with a situation where large families, huge percentages of them, are in poverty.”
Calls to abolish the two child benefit cap were renewed yesterday after Keir Starmer made a partial U-turn by restoring the winter fuel allowance for 9 million pensioners.
“Targeting Winter Fuel Payments was a tough decision, but the right decision because of the inheritance we had been left by the previous government,” chancellor Rachel Reeves said. “It is also right that we continue to means-test this payment so that it is targeted and fair, rather than restoring eligibility to everyone including the wealthiest.
“But we have now acted to expand the eligibility of the Winter Fuel Payment so no pensioner on a lower income will miss out. This will mean over three quarters of pensioners receiving the payment in England and Wales later this winter.”
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