Liz Kendall lashes out at Suella Braverman in youngster poverty spat

Labour’s Liz Kendall has lashed out at Suella Braverman – saying her stance on child poverty is a “bit rich”.

The Work and Pensions Secretary was grilled over calls facing the Government to abolish the cruel two-child benefit limit, which affects 1.6million kids. During an appearance on BBC Breakfast, host Jon Kay pointed out that even hard-line Tory Ms Braverman thinks it should go.

But Ms Kendall hit back: “That’s a bit rich… she’s been part of a Government that actually plunged children into poverty, so forgive me for not taking her word on this.”

More than a dozen Labour backbenchers have put their name to an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the policy to be torn up. Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) last week reveal the benefit limit affects 1.6million children in England and Wales.

Yesterday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Government would “consider” scrapping the cap, an austerity measure brought in by former Tory Chancellor George Osborne in 2017.

The restriction means families can’t claim child tax credits or Universal Credit for any other children after their first two kids. In an extraordinary intervention in May, right-winger Ms Braverman, who once said homelessness is a “lifestyle choice”, said the policy is too much for her to stomach.

She blamed it for pushing “more children into relative poverty” and forcing “more families to use food banks”. Ms Kendall said the Government has to do “the sums” before considering axing the two-child benefit cap.

She told Times Radio: “We were elected on the promise that we would only make spending commitments that we know we can keep and we are facing a dire inheritance from the Tories.

“I’m not into a wink and a nudge politics. I’m not going to look constituents in the face and tell them I’m going to do something without actually having done the sums figuring out how I’m going to pay for it, figuring out how we transform opportunity for those children, not just in terms of their household income, which is essential, but about having sustained improvements to helping people get work and get on in work, more childcare, early years support, sorting out the dire state of people’s housing.

“It’s got to be part of a much bigger approach.”