Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner ain’t saying for sure if the government is gonna get rid of that two-child benefit cap. According to the Observer, Sir Keir Starmer had a chat in private saying he’s all for scrapping the limit and asked the Treasury to find 3.5 billion big ones to make it happen. This here policy stops most families from getting means-tested benefits for any kiddos born after April 2017. When asked on Sunday by Laura Kuenssberg if she wants to see the cap gone, Rayner said, “I’m not gonna guess what our government is gonna do.”
Child Poverty Taskforce, which Rayner mentioned, has been thinking about whether to kick that cap to the curb along with other moves. They’re checking out all the challenges, with one being the cap, and they’re also planning on ramping up housebuilding. The government’s child poverty strategy got pushed back, but it’s being worked on by the taskforce and could see the light of day in the autumn.
Now, there was this memo that got leaked to the Daily Telegraph from Rayner’s department suggesting clawing back child benefit from richer families, among other things. When asked if she’s on board with that idea, Rayner didn’t give a straight answer, saying ministers are focused on child poverty and she’s backing what they’ve done so far. She also shut down any talk about her being the leak, saying she keeps things tight-lipped. Some in Labour have been saying she’s eyeing up Sir Keir’s job because of the memo, but Rayner shut that down quick, saying she’s happy being the deputy prime minister and has no plans to run for leader.
Questions about the two-child benefit cap are popping up after the PM did a U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts due to growing pressure. Sir Keir said changes would be coming in the autumn Budget, and Rayner mentioned it would be up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to lay out the deets at the next fiscal event. More than 10 million pensioners missed out on those top-up payments when it got limited to only those getting pension credit. Nigel Farage said he’d bring back the allowance and ditch the two-child cap if Reform UK took over, but Rayner just brushed off his words. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called Farage’s idea nonsense, saying it’s all talk and no action, and the country can’t afford to lift the cap. However, Badenoch did push for full restoration of winter fuel payments.
Ain’t nobody got time for politicians making empty promises, but Badenoch did want those winter fuel payments back in full swing. Sounds like there’s a whole lotta back and forth happening over these benefits, but who knows what’ll really go down in the end.
