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Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
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After seven Labour MPs voted for an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the abolition of the two-child benefit limit, the Labour leader suspended them for six months.
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Introduced in 2017 by the Conservative government, the policy limits families from claiming benefits for a maximum of two children. A record 1.6 million children are living in families affected by the policy, and it is widely recognized as the single largest driver of child poverty in Britain.
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Abolishing it would immediately lift 330,000 children from poverty. And at an eventual cost of just £3.4 billion a year, there is no quicker or more cost-effective way to combat child poverty available to the government.
✏️ Absolute hypocrisy and just a constant reminder that policy choices are firmly choices and never externally forced. They choose to keep kids in poverty. 🔗 View Highlight
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framed it as a disincentive against families having children they could not afford, the current government is not prepared to defend the policy on the grounds of social engineering. Instead, it insists that maintaining the policy is necessary to demonstrate its economic competencies, stressing that it would be irresponsible to make “unfunded promises.”
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refuses any tax rises on the wealthy to fund the abolition of the limit. Adding insult to injury, just last week, the government showed that money can be found when there is political will, committing £3 billion a year to Ukraine’s war effort “for as long as it takes.”