'Almost Dickensian': Stourbridge MP writes to PM demanding end of two-child benefit cap
An MP has described the two-child benefit cap as 'almost Dickensian' after signing a letter to the Prime Minister calling for it to be scrapped.
Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge, is one of 33 MPs who have signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling for the rule, which limits Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit payments to the first two children, to be scrapped.
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The move ocmes14 months after she voted against an amendment by the SNP to end the cap.
The letter, organised by Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said 1.7 million children were now affected by the cap, and denied families on benefits with three or more children an extra £3,500 per child.
It said urged Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to end the cap in the Budget in the autumn.
"Anything less will be judged as a failure by those families who continue to pay the price for this cruel and unjust policy," it said.
Miss Eccles said it would cost the taxpayer £3 billion a year to scrap the cap, lifting 4.2 million people out of poverty - including 2.2 million trapped in teh deepest forms of deprivation.
"The Poverty Strategy Commission's final report explains clearly how much damage this 'almost Dickensian' policy is doing," she said.
"Three billion pounds a year to lift children out of poverty. Just pay it."
Other signatories include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, his Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana, veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, and ex-Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer.
