Helen Whately: Labour will scrap the two child benefit cap for all the wrong reasons
How is this acceptable?
Helen Whately is the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Tonight, once again, Labour MPs will vote to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Conservatives will vote to defend it.
With Labour’s majority – and the enthusiastic support of the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru – the outcome of this third reading vote is not in doubt – provided everyone goes in the correct voting lobby.
But the debate matters.
Because what MPs say about the two-child cap reveals far more than their view on a single policy. It shows how they think about the role of the state and the family, about fairness and responsibility, and ultimately about what makes our country succeed.
The fact that most MPs will vote to scrap the two-child cap is why there is so little prospect of our country’s fortunes being turned around this Parliament.
The UK is in trouble.
Our economy is in the doldrums. Growth is stagnant. Businesses are in despair. Entrepreneurs are asking, ‘why bother?’ Unemployment is up month on month, and youth unemployment is at similar levels to Greece. The only areas of growth are public sector jobs and pay.
Politicians have failed to make – or win – the case for controlling public spending and backing private enterprise. Too often, governments have succumbed to pressure to spend more because it seems on-the-face of it compassionate.
But the cumulative effect is anything but compassionate. We’ve drifted onto an unsustainable path of ever-higher spending and ever-lower growth.
Making the whole country poorer may narrow relative poverty – which appeals to the Left – but it doesn’t actually improve people’s lives.
With the working-age benefits bill at £140 billion per annum, and with the government borrowing £112 billion in the financial year to January 2026, MPs should not be voting to spend billions and billions more on benefits. That will just dig our economic hole deeper.
Like most of the choices Labour have made in Government, it’s a bad one – so bad, even Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves argued that the country couldn’t afford it. But Keir has caved in to pressure from Labour MPs to spend ever more. Part of his underlying weakness.
However, even if the economic situation was better, I still wouldn’t support scrapping the cap.
For most people, raising children is the most important thing they will ever do. Paying for them is why parents work long hours and make sacrifices. Many couples have difficult conversations about how many children they can afford. It is fundamentally unfair to make them fund choices they themselves cannot afford to make.
Labour MPs say it’s wrong for children to suffer because of their parents’ decisions. But that exposes a deeper divide – over the role of the state. Except in cases of abuse or neglect, it is not the …
How is this acceptable?
Helen Whately is the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Tonight, once again, Labour MPs will vote to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Conservatives will vote to defend it.
With Labour’s majority – and the enthusiastic support of the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru – the outcome of this third reading vote is not in doubt – provided everyone goes in the correct voting lobby.
But the debate matters.
Because what MPs say about the two-child cap reveals far more than their view on a single policy. It shows how they think about the role of the state and the family, about fairness and responsibility, and ultimately about what makes our country succeed.
The fact that most MPs will vote to scrap the two-child cap is why there is so little prospect of our country’s fortunes being turned around this Parliament.
The UK is in trouble.
Our economy is in the doldrums. Growth is stagnant. Businesses are in despair. Entrepreneurs are asking, ‘why bother?’ Unemployment is up month on month, and youth unemployment is at similar levels to Greece. The only areas of growth are public sector jobs and pay.
Politicians have failed to make – or win – the case for controlling public spending and backing private enterprise. Too often, governments have succumbed to pressure to spend more because it seems on-the-face of it compassionate.
But the cumulative effect is anything but compassionate. We’ve drifted onto an unsustainable path of ever-higher spending and ever-lower growth.
Making the whole country poorer may narrow relative poverty – which appeals to the Left – but it doesn’t actually improve people’s lives.
With the working-age benefits bill at £140 billion per annum, and with the government borrowing £112 billion in the financial year to January 2026, MPs should not be voting to spend billions and billions more on benefits. That will just dig our economic hole deeper.
Like most of the choices Labour have made in Government, it’s a bad one – so bad, even Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves argued that the country couldn’t afford it. But Keir has caved in to pressure from Labour MPs to spend ever more. Part of his underlying weakness.
However, even if the economic situation was better, I still wouldn’t support scrapping the cap.
For most people, raising children is the most important thing they will ever do. Paying for them is why parents work long hours and make sacrifices. Many couples have difficult conversations about how many children they can afford. It is fundamentally unfair to make them fund choices they themselves cannot afford to make.
Labour MPs say it’s wrong for children to suffer because of their parents’ decisions. But that exposes a deeper divide – over the role of the state. Except in cases of abuse or neglect, it is not the …
Helen Whately: Labour will scrap the two child benefit cap for all the wrong reasons
How is this acceptable?
Helen Whately is the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Tonight, once again, Labour MPs will vote to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Conservatives will vote to defend it.
With Labour’s majority – and the enthusiastic support of the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru – the outcome of this third reading vote is not in doubt – provided everyone goes in the correct voting lobby.
But the debate matters.
Because what MPs say about the two-child cap reveals far more than their view on a single policy. It shows how they think about the role of the state and the family, about fairness and responsibility, and ultimately about what makes our country succeed.
The fact that most MPs will vote to scrap the two-child cap is why there is so little prospect of our country’s fortunes being turned around this Parliament.
The UK is in trouble.
Our economy is in the doldrums. Growth is stagnant. Businesses are in despair. Entrepreneurs are asking, ‘why bother?’ Unemployment is up month on month, and youth unemployment is at similar levels to Greece. The only areas of growth are public sector jobs and pay.
Politicians have failed to make – or win – the case for controlling public spending and backing private enterprise. Too often, governments have succumbed to pressure to spend more because it seems on-the-face of it compassionate.
But the cumulative effect is anything but compassionate. We’ve drifted onto an unsustainable path of ever-higher spending and ever-lower growth.
Making the whole country poorer may narrow relative poverty – which appeals to the Left – but it doesn’t actually improve people’s lives.
With the working-age benefits bill at £140 billion per annum, and with the government borrowing £112 billion in the financial year to January 2026, MPs should not be voting to spend billions and billions more on benefits. That will just dig our economic hole deeper.
Like most of the choices Labour have made in Government, it’s a bad one – so bad, even Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves argued that the country couldn’t afford it. But Keir has caved in to pressure from Labour MPs to spend ever more. Part of his underlying weakness.
However, even if the economic situation was better, I still wouldn’t support scrapping the cap.
For most people, raising children is the most important thing they will ever do. Paying for them is why parents work long hours and make sacrifices. Many couples have difficult conversations about how many children they can afford. It is fundamentally unfair to make them fund choices they themselves cannot afford to make.
Labour MPs say it’s wrong for children to suffer because of their parents’ decisions. But that exposes a deeper divide – over the role of the state. Except in cases of abuse or neglect, it is not the …
