First Labour f up

[G123456789]

The BBC are reporting that there are Labour mps calling for the new government to scrap the limit of 2 children on child benefit

I'm working class and have family members who have had, 7, 5 and several 4 kids. Neither parent worked and the fact that each child got benefit encouraged them to have more, even though they really could not afford it.

so Labour mps want to encourage people who struggle, and those who don't actually, to have more kids...with the impact on the state, housing in the future and the environment..discuss

It's got n'owt to do with child benefit OP. I'd suggest you have a read of this too (see below)... you might learn sommat eh.

Government must immediately abolish ‘deeply damaging’ two-child limit, says CPAG
Call from child poverty charity comes as new DWP statistics show a record 1.6 million children in 440,000 families are affected by the policy

If the government is to meet its commitment to tackle child poverty, then it must immediately abolish the 'deeply damaging' two-child limit, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has said.

In a new report, Things will only going get worse: Why the two-child limit must go, published today, CPAG highlights new DWP statistics about the impact of the policy which show that, in April 2024, there were a total of 440,000 households who were not receiving the child element for at least one child, impacting on a total of 1.6 million children.

NB - the DWP points out that the number of households affected by the policy continues to increase as more children have been born since 6 April 2017 (when the policy was introduced) into families with at least two children.

The majority of these households, CPAG says, are living in poverty even though 59 per cent have one or both parents in paid work, and the policy affects every area of children's lives -

it leaves families without the income to meet children’s basic needs such as for food, clothing and heating;
it undermines families’ ability to pay their housing costs;
it hinders families’ ability to pay for childcare costs, preventing them from working more;
it pushes vulnerable families into deep poverty, including families where somebody has a disability and single-parent families;
it negatively affects children’s learning, development and education;
it robs children of the everyday experiences of childhood and time together with their families; and
it harms the mental health of affected parents and children.
Arguing that the government cannot afford not to act if it is to meet its commitment to tackle child poverty, CPAG says -

'The two-child limit creates a deliberate gap between need and entitlement, systematically depriving children of what they need to thrive. As more children are born under the two-child limit every year, the policy will continue to drive up child poverty rates. Scrapping the two-child limit is the most urgent action the new government must take to reduce child poverty. It is also the most cost-effective. It would lift 300,000 children out of poverty and mean 700,000 children are in less deep poverty at a cost of £1.7 billion – helping to ensure that we invest properly in the future of all children.'

For more information, see Things will only going get worse: Why the two-child limit must go from cpag.org.uk

Disagree. With too many people and a climate crisis, we should not be rewarding big families.

I'd do away with child benefit altogether, but introduce tax relief for childcare. However, I don't know where the money would come from for that!

I don't think the argument that you shouldn't make the child suffer for the acts of the parents really works here, because if someone is that feckless they won't spend the money on their children anyway.

Edited: I am referring to child benefit and not the general benefits cap.

We need more children. We're below the replacement rate which means there won't be enough people to pay for the pensions and care of the elderly in the future.

We also need parents who work.

Couldn't they lift the cap for parents with 2+ children, who also work (if they're able)?

Agree wholeheartedly with this.

I agree. Until whoever is in government addresses the deeper issues in society that lead to people having children they can't afford, the children shouldn't be made to suffer.

I do wish people would learn a bit about how politics and government work. Labour MPs “calling for” something is not the same as it happening. Newspapers and media outlets use it all the time to whip up a story. All it takes is a phone call to the usual suspects asking a leading question, and next MPs are “calling for” something, and people who don’t know any better then get all worked up that something is going to happen. (The same is happening on means testing pensions at the moment, watch out for that one.) Rightly or wrongly Starmer has said, even before the election, that there simply was not the funds to lift the two-child cap on benefits. That is the policy, not what a random couple of backbench MPs say.

I support this decision. Children are the future and we should be ensuring every child has the best start possible. Why should the children the state refuses to support now have to pay taxes as adults?

Noticeable that the OP chucks a poorly thought out/researched post in there, invites everyone to 'discuss' and disappears.

It's not child benefit. It's the child element of universal credit that's capped.

I would prefer it to be means tested and poorer families get more

They won’t do it. It’s just back benchers. The Labour Party don’t have the money to do it.

I concur, it's like being back at Uni when they set you a group project with a statement and then state "discuss"

Are you suggesting that someone called G123456789 might not be entirely on the level :)

Edit: Sorry meant to reply to the poster you were quoting :(

So a few mps have brought up a conversation what's the big deal?

Hardly a fuck up.

Getting fined for flouting your own lockdown rules, that’s a fuck up.

Delivering a fiscal statement so bad that it crashed the economy overnight, that’s also a fuck up.

Stop feeding the bot people 🙄

So you’d rather kids who didn’t ask to be born go without. I certainly hope and I expect Labour to make changes otherwise what was the point of voting out the Tories if they’re just 2 cheeks of the same arse.

How is it a "fuck up"? If it's because individual backbench MPs are publicly calling for something that's not official Labour policy, I think that's OK. Party policies that restrict members (and/or elected officials) to discussing everything behind closed doors in order to present a united front to the public hasn't been working well either (see: SNP).

That said, though, the logical response to people abusing a benefit is to crack down on the abuse, not the benefit itself.

Well quite. Like your teacher telling you to 'discuss' while they nip out for a wee or a snack or something. If it is a real person rather than a wee bot, they must be terribly annoying in real life (discuss).

All going according to what I expected. This is not the first fuck up but one that will affect where the raises in tax will go. People would pay more taxes to have NHS and services but it will go to policies like this.
This is Labour in a nutshell.

Op hasn't disappeared judging from all the deletions. They just don't like the replies.

I still think they sound judgemental, unsympathetic and ill informed. Shame they don't want to discuss the issue in more depth.

Noone has children just to get the 16 quid a week child benefit. Behave.

Depends if you think caring about children living in poverty is a f up or not.

I love that people think £20 odd per week is the reason why people have a child!

Yeah absolutely disgusting to give struggling families a bit more money so they can afford things like baby milk and food