Ditching the cap can give Sarwar a head start in battle for power

Deputy leadership candidate sets out stall for getting Labour back on front foot

- BY DAN VEVERS Chief Reporter

LIFTING the two-child benefit cap in next month's Budget can help Anas Sarwar become First Minister, Lucy Powell has said.

The Labour MP - who is vying with UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour's deputy leader - said there was "no sugar coating the fact things haven't gone well" in the first 15 months of Keir Starmer's reign.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail, ahead of the vote this week, Powell insisted Scottish Labour chief Sarwar can win next May despite brutal polls showing Labour far behind John Swinney's SNP.

She said Rachel Reeves' Budget next month is a pivotal moment - and must scrap the controversial two-child cap. Powell, who last week met ex-PM Gordon Brown and campaigners in London to discuss child poverty, said: "What I want to see, and what I hope to see, is a very strong story of fairness coming through.