Rachel Reeves vows to battle Reform and Tories’ plot to revive two-child profit restrict
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said it was her aim to ensure no political party would ‘dare go into an election with such an unpopular policy’ as bringing back the cruel measure
Rachel Reeves has vowed to fight to ensure the two-child benefit limit remains scrapped and can never be restored by Reform UK or the Tories.
The Chancellor said it was her aim to make sure no political party would “dare go into an election with such an unpopular policy” as bringing back the cruel measure. It comes after the two-child benefit limit was finally axed earlier this month in a move the government estimates will lift 450,000 kids out of poverty.
The policy – which restricted Universal Credit to the first two children in a family – was ushered in by austerity-era Chancellor George Osborne and was blamed for tapping kids in poverty. But both Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Kemi Badenoch’s Tories have pledged to reinstate the two-child benefit limit in full.
In comments to a reception in No11 Downing Street to mark the scrapping of the policy, Ms Reeves said: “Now that we’ve achieved this, we need to make sure this policy sticks. For as long as we have a Labour government, this will last. But it is still politically contestable and it is still a political football.”
“I want to make sure we don’t just sort of tick this off and say job done. We’ve got to carry on fighting for what we believe in to make sure this policy lasts so that no government and no party would campaign at any election to get rid of a policy that has made so much difference and that I hope that we can make policy that has wider public support so that no political party would dare go into an election with such an unpopular policy.”
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“Let’s make sure the biggest policy of all can never, ever be reversed and that is our job, our generation to make sure the good we have done is now not undone.”
Speaking to the Mirror ahead of a reception to mark the moment in No11 Downing Street, Ms Reeves also praised campaigners who lobbied for the Tory policy to be axed.
She said: “I know the difference it will make to people’s lives. In this Parliament there will be more kids lifted out of poverty than any Parliament ever – 450,000 kids from this policy alone.”
Takin aim at Reform UK and the Tories’ plans, she hit back, saying: “It would mean 450,000 children who are now being lifted out of poverty, will be placed straight back in poverty again. And that would be a willing choice of a government and that’s what the Conservatives did when Osborne was Chancellor and it’s what the Conservatives and Reform will do again.”
Before it was announced at last year’s Budget the policy would be scrapped, the issue of the two-child benefit limit had caused deep divisions in Labour’s ranks. Seven Labour MPs were also suspended by Keir Starmer for rebelling against the government over the policy in the summer of 2024.
Asked whether she regretted not committing to scrapping the policy sooner, Ms Reeves replied: “We always said that we were going to reduce child poverty. One of the first things we did when we got elected was set up a child poverty taskforce and that did work looking at a whole range of different options. Our ambition was clear we wanted to reduce child poverty in this Parliament.”
She added: “Also I was really clear in opposition and in government, I’m not going to announce policies unless I can be clear about where the money is going to come from. And when I became Chancellor, we also instigated a review into the taxation of gambling companies and in the Budget when I abolished the two-child limit in Universal Credit, at the same time when introduced new taxes on online betting and gaming, which raised a substantial part of the money needed to get rid of this policy.”
