Lincolnshire leaders weigh in on lifting the two-child benefit cap

LABOUR CONSIDERING SCRAPPING MEANS-TESTED CLAIMS FOR BENEFIT

- BY JAMES TURNER Local Democracy Reporter

LINCOLNSHIRE leaders have weighed in on the debate about whether the two-child benefit cap should be scrapped.

Key political figures on Lincolnshire County Council have shared their views on the policy, which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for more than two children born after April 2017.

Labour ministers are now said to be considering ending the cap.

Councillor Natalie Oliver, the new Reform UK executive member for Children's Services at Lincolnshire County Council, described scrapping the cap as just one of the measures needed to support families.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Whilst the Conservative and Labour governments have sought to deal with this country's collapsing birth rate and ageing population through open-door immigration, a Reform government would do all it could to give British couples the financial support they need to have children.

"We'd do this through scrapping the two-child benefit cap, and introducing a 25 per cent transferable marriage tax allowance, meaning no tax on the first £25,000 of income for either spouse.