Latest news with #childbenefits
Sky News
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Starmer says government 'will look at' scrapping two-child benefits limit
Sir Keir Starmer has said his government "will look at" scrapping the two-child benefits limit. In his strongest hint yet that he will perform a U-turn - when asked if he would scrap the two-child benefit cap, Sir Keir said: "We'll look at all options of driving down child poverty." The cap means families can only claim child tax credit and universal credit for their first two children, if they were born after April 2017. It was introduced in 2017 by the Conservative government, and in 2023, Sir Keir ruled out scrapping it. However, as Labour came to power last year, he said the party wanted to remove the cap but only when fiscal conditions allowed. But he then doubled down on refusing to lift it, suspending seven Labour MPs shortly after the election victory for voting with the SNP to remove the cap. 1:01 Ministers had toed the party line for months, but the narrative started to shift in May, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson telling Sky News on Tuesday lifting the cap is "not off the table" - and "it's certainly something that we're considering". Sir Keir was also reported to have asked the Treasury to see how scrapping it could be funded. His words on Thursday are his strongest indication yet, that he could lift the cap soon. 1:01 It would mean a second benefits U-turn after he made a shock announcement last week that he was going to relax the winter fuel payment cut. The policy, announced soon after Labour won the election, has caused anger among Sir Keir's own MPs as it restricted the previously universal payment to those who receive pension credit. It will now be available to "more pensioners", but details of who and when have not been revealed.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Farage Backs Benefit Hikes in Challenge From Starmer's Left
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage vowed to scrap a limit on child benefits, vying for traditional Labour voters and putting pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reverse his own stance on the controversial policy. Farage — the Donald Trump-supporting Euro-skeptic whose party is leading British opinion polls — came out in favor of removing the two-child cap on public benefits during a news conference on Tuesday. The move appeared to be an effort to by Farage to position himself to the left of Labour on one area of tax policy, which Starmer has so far maintained despite a push from some in his party to change course.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Nigel Farage: Reform UK want to make it easier for people to have children
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he wants to make it easier for people to have children, as he confirmed his party would back more generous tax breaks for married people and scrap the two-child benefit limit. In a speech in central London, Farage said he wanted to lift the cap "not because we support a benefits culture" but because it would make things easier for lower-paid workers. He also said he would reverse the government's cuts which saw the winter fuel payment withdrawn from 10 million pensioners. Liberal Democrat Sir Ed Davey accused Reform UK of making "huge unfunded spending pledges and only vague promises of fantasy savings". Farage's intervention comes as the prime minister faces pressure from his own MPs on government spending decisions, including cuts to disability Labour MPs also want to see the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said the government is considering lifting the cap but that it would "cost a lot of money". Last week, Sir Keir announced plans to ease cuts to winter fuel payments, but has not yet set out how many pensioners would see the payment reinstated or how it would be paid for. During a wide-ranging speech, Farage also said his party's "biggest aspiration" was to lift the salary level at which people start paying income tax to £20,000."These proposals are expensive but we genuinely believe we can pay for it," he said. He said the measures would be paid for by scrapping net-zero climate measures, stopping hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, ending diversity and equality initiatives in the public sector and cutting the number of quangos - bodies which are funded by taxpayers but not directly controlled by central government. The Reform UK leader said removing the two-child benefit cap, which would cost an estimated £3.5bn, was "not a silver bullet" but would help making tax breaks for married people more generous, he said he was "not moralising" but argued that "making marriage a little bit more important" was "the right thing to do," as it gave children "the best chance of success".
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Reform UK's Farage to Vow Benefit Hikes in Attack on Starmer
Nigel Farage is extending his bid to win over traditional Labour voters by announcing that his party would scrap a controversial limit on child benefits and fully reinstate utility-bill subsidies for the elderly if it came into power. The Reform UK leader is set to hold a press conference Tuesday morning during which he will claim the policies would be funded by abandoning net-zero emissions pledges, getting rid of accommodation for asylum seekers and shaving expenditures on quasi-government agencies — known as quangos — by 5%.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Angela Rayner 'urges Rachel Reeves to strip child benefits for middle-class families' - as pair's 'feud' continues
has encouraged Rachel Reeves to strip middle-class families of child benefits payments, it has been claimed. The Labour Deputy Prime Minister urged the treasury to 'claw back' the benefit from families where the top earner's annual salary was somewhere between £50,000 and £80,000, The Telegraph first reported. If taken forward, the decision would undo an announcement by the Tories in March 2024 that was predicted to save 500,000 families around £1,300 per year. Ms Rayner's suggestion was reportedly contained in the same leaked memo, in which the Deputy PM proposed eight tax rises. Ms Reeves faced criticism this week after details of the memo were revealed and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced an about-turn on her abolition of the universal winter fuel payment. The memo accepted that the change to child benefit rules would be 'contentious' but added Labour could argue that the Tories had never properly funded the policy to begin with. Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative chancellor who announced the change in 2024, urged Labour not to reverse it. 'This may look like a relatively minor budget measure but was one of the most popular things we did because it helped striving middle-class families struggling with childcare costs. 'Abandoning them would confirm that far from being a New Labour government, this is a traditional anti-aspiration Old Labour government.' It comes as Ms Rayner called for migrant benefits to be slashed and urged Ms Reeves to make changes, it was reported yesterday, after the Deputy PM challenged the Chancellor's economic approach. Bold proposals, outlined in the leaked memo, also suggested making it harder for immigrants to receive Universal credit. Ms Rayner even said Labour should raise the fee migrants pay to use the NHS, in policies she and her team claimed were 'contentious' but still 'worthy of consideration'. Under current policies, introduced under the Tories in 2015, foreigners on work visas pay to access healthcare - a fee currently set at £1,035. The 'radical' policies further included limiting access to the state pension.
