Child benefit 'giveaway' is not on the public's wishlist

It is now only a fortnight or so since, reportedly, four people in No 10 with appropriate authority, briefed journalists, extraordinarily, that there were active plots against Keir Starmer’s leadership, and that those involved in such conspiracies should be aware that if they tried to oust him, he’d fight back and stand to be leader again.

- SEAN O'GRADY

A Wagnerian Gotterdammerung would then ensue. Or, as they say on the football terraces, “come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough”. One of the fabled four mentioned health secretary Wes Streeting by name, at which point Downing Street lost all control of its story.

It came to nothing - so far. But Starmer and Rachel Reeves, very much in this together, know that their parliamentary party is restive, as well it might be, with all those bright youngsters elected in unlikely ex-Tory strongholds, staring at only a few years in the Commons - a pleasant sojourn before returning to their previous lives. The fear of losing your job concentrates the mind, whether you're a publican or a parliamentarian.

So they will have to give Labour MPs something to cheer them up, something that will say, “this is what a Labour government is for”. That something, of course, is lifting the two-child benefit cap. It will, so the experts say, help lift between 350,000 and 630,000 out of hardship immediately, depending on the design of the policy and the definition of “poverty” chosen. In all, some 1.6 million children could benefit.

You can almost hear the thunderous cheers on the benches behind Reeves as she makes her landmark announcement tomorrow. It will be all the sweeter because it is a direct reversal of a Tory cut proposed by George Osborne and implemented by Philip Hammond in 2017.