LEADERS IN JOINT PLEA TO SCRAP CAP ON PAYMENTS

NORTHERN mayors have called on Rachel Reeves to abolish the two-child benefit cap and commit to vast railway line upgrades, including the restoration of a mothballed North East route.

- By DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter

But Tees Valley's Ben Houchen did not join his fellow regional leaders in signing their joint letter to the Chancellor.

Ahead of the Budget later this month, mayors including Kim McGuinness and Andy Burnham have written to Ms Reeves to demand “game-changing investment” in the North of England.

Under the banner of the ‘Great North’ partnership launched earlier this year, the leaders have asked for help to “unlock the North’s full potential”.

They have added their names to the pleas for the two-child cap to be lifted in order to help combat child poverty, with the mayors saying its removal would lift more than 100,000 Northern children out of deprivation.

Mr Houchen, the Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley, is not among the signatories.

The mayors write: “Many Northern communities are disproportionately affected by the two-child benefit cap, with higher rates of child poverty.