PM commits to tackle poverty - but no word on 2-child benefit cap

MAIL INTERVIEW FOLLOWS CAMPAIGN

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has made a personal pledge to bring down child poverty but has not yet pledged to lift the 'cruel' two child benefit cap imposed on families.

The number of children falling into poverty in the city and West Midlands is continuing to grow amid a cost of living crisis that has seen wages fail to keep up with soaring food costs.

But a recognised key lever - the two child benefit cap - remains in place, to the fury of anti poverty campaigners.

PM Starmer spoke to the Mail yesterday to discuss initiatives already under way to address child hunger and poverty across the country.

We shared with him our landmark project diving into Birmingham's child poverty crisis, which his predecessor PM Gordon Brown had hailed as 'vital work.

Starmer is facing a mounting clamour to lift the two child benefit cap, seen as a critical cause of continuing hardship among young families. It's a policy that limits welfare and benefits to the first two children in any household.

A plethora of celebrities have become the latest to press for action on the cap.