Two-child benefit cap is removed in bid to tackle child poverty

DESCRIBED AS VITAL BY TOWN MAYOR, BUT OTHERS DISAGREE WITH THE MOVE

- By DANIEL HODGSON

Rachel Reeves delivered the Budget yesterday HOUSE OF COMMONS

MIDDLESBROUGH'S politicians have shared their thoughts on one of the most talked about announcements from the Budget.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the removal of the two-child benefit limit from April next year. Locally, the policy change has been described as "vital" by one politician, while another thinks families should only have kids if they can afford to.

A summer polling from You Gov showed that 59% of the public wanted the cap to remain, while only 26% of people thought it should be axed.

A split in opinion was certainly clear among those politicians who reacted to the news from the Budget.

Ms Reeves said that the policy "pushes kids into poverty more than any other," adding the Conservative Party had previously said the policy would bring about behavioural change, disincentivising poorer families from having more children.

She added: "Well even on its own terms it failed. The welfare bill has continued to rise and there's been no difference in the size of families. But what it has done is to push hundreds of thousands of children into poverty since it was introduced.

"They said they were punishing parents' choices, but it's the kids who have paid the price."

The policy shift will have a particularly significant impact in Middlesbrough, where child poverty is so stubbornly high, and the wider Tees Valley. The LDRS previously reported that child poverty continues to hit Teesside harder than most of the country.