Major update on benefit claimed by thousands of Scots
The consultation carried out after the move was announced last December received 260 responses
CHECK IT OUT Major update on benefit claimed by thousands of Scots
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NATS ministers ploughed on with plans to scrap the two-child cap despite finding overwhelming opposition among Scots.
Three-quarters of responses to a Scottish Government consultation on the move were against axing the limit.
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Three-quarters of responses to a Scottish Gov consultation on the move were against axing the limit
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And ministers were repeatedly told parents should not have more kids than they can afford.
But despite the findings, SNP ministers this week said they would press ahead with the £155million-a-year plan from next March.
Scottish Conservative social security spokesman Alexander Stewart said the consultation responses 'show how out of touch the SNP are with the ordinary Scots who pick up the tab for the Nationalists' ballooning benefits bill'.
He said: 'The vast majority of the public back the two-child cap because it strikes the right balance.
'Social security payments must be fair both to people who are struggling and to taxpayers who have to weigh up their own finances when deciding how many children to have.'
The consultation carried out after the move was announced last December received 260 responses.
Of these, 190 said the SNP should keep the cap.
They were predominantly individuals, while the minority who backed the plan were mostly charities and anti-poverty organisations.
One said: 'Having children is a financial choice - it is not for the taxpayer to pay for people's choice to have more children.'
Another said 'taxpayers should not be responsible for bringing up children' and 'if you can't afford them, don't have them'.
Angela Rayner says lifting 2-child benefit cap not 'silver bullet' for ending poverty after demanding cuts for millions
One respondent said the policy was not about helping children but 'about the SNP helping themselves in next year's election', while another said the Nats were 'addicted to benefits' and saw them as 'a great vote booster'.
An 'easy read' summary of the consulation, published today, added that 'some people said mitigating the two-child cap might encourage people to have bigger families' or 'make people rely more on benefits and not work'.
The Scottish Government is currently spending around £1.3 billion more on benefits than would have been spent in Scotland if devolution of welfare hadn't taken place, due to additional spending decisions, and is forecast to be spending £2.1 billion more by 2029-30.
The minority that supported scrapping the cap mostly worked in organisations that work with impoverished families.
They highlighted the plight of families struggling to fee their children and the traumatic impact of the 'rape clause' the allows women to claim for addtional children if they were impregnated without consent.
Lifting the two-child cap is forecast to cost £155million next year, rising to £194million in 2029-30.
Polling in 2023 suggested just one in three Scots think the two-child benefits cap should be axed.
The rule was backed by 50 per cent of over-16s, according to YouGov. Only 32 per cent said it should be abolished, with 19 per cent of people unsure.
The policy applies to benefits including Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit, and stops parents from claiming for a third or additional child born after April 2017. It does not apply to Child Benefit.
Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville told MSPs this week that the two-child cap 'punishes people for having children'.
She said: 'The Scottish Government will deliver the effective scrapping of the two-child cap when Labour has failed to do so.'
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All of them are understood to have voiced their dissent against Tehran. The IRGC is the principal supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed in the UK. Amid threats of all-out war in the Middle East, officials last year wanted to expedite tightening domestic terror laws to ban IRGC operatives from nurturing Islamist terrorism at home. Current sanctions on Iran do not prevent state-linked organisations spreading jihadi propaganda or carrying out soft-power activities designed to radicalize British citizens. Kasra Aarabi, Director of IRGC Research at United Against Nuclear Iran, said: 'The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most antisemitic armed Islamist extremist organisation in the world. 'The government needs to proscribe the IRGC as a matter of urgency. 'The failure to proscribe the IRGC is putting British lives at risk, not least those from the British-Jewish community and British-Iranian diaspora —the two primary targets of IRGC terrorism in the UK.'
