Bridget Phillipson leaving Downing Street (Image: Getty)
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said scrapping the two-child benefit cap is “not off the table”. The Cabinet minister said the policy – which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017 – had pushed people into poverty.
Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are under pressure to respond to mounting calls for the two-child benefit cap to be axed at a cost of around £3.5 billion. Asked on Tuesday if she would “scrap” the cap, Ms Phillipson said: “We’re certainly looking at it as part of the task force. As I say, nothing’s off the table but this is not straightforward, the costs are high.
“When we came into Government we had to make some difficult decisions about how we got the economy back on a stable footing, because actually it’s working people who lose out when you have that kind of instability that we saw under Liz Truss, when mortgage rates went up, rent went up as a result of all of the instability and the chaos.
“But I came into politics to tackle child poverty, to make sure that wherever you’re from doesn’t determine what you can go on to achieve in life, to break that link between background and success.
“That is the moral mission of this Labour Government. That is what we are all as a Government determined to deliver.”
She added: “We’ll set it all out later on this year, in the autumn. I think it’s important that we get it right.
“So what we’ve heard from experts, from organisations, from those who are supporting families and children in poverty, is that they want a comprehensive strategy that addresses every aspect of how we can make sure that fewer children are growing up in poverty.”
The Government’s child poverty strategy, which was due to be published in the spring, is now set to come out in the autumn so it can be aligned with the Chancellor’s budget.
Around 1.6 million children live in a household affected by the cap, according to statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions.
The Resolution Foundation think tank said axing the policy would lift 470,000 children out of poverty.
Russians seize on Kemi Badenoch comments Ukraine is fighting ‘proxy war’ for West and UK
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has received support from an unlikely source as the Russian embassy has backed her recent words calling the conflict in Ukraine a “proxy war for the West”. During an interview on Sky News with journalist Trevor Phillips, Ms Badenoch said the bloody wars in Gaza and Ukraine were both examples of countries fighting on behalf of the UK and the West.
Speaking about Iran’s support for Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Ms Badenoch explained her view that “Israel is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the UK, just like Ukraine is on behalf of the West, Western Europe against Russia”. Ms Badenoch went on to highlight the recent terror plot against the Israeli embassy in London and the shocking killing of an Israeli couple linked to the embassy in Washington in recent days.
However, the Tory leader’s use of the term ‘proxy war’, which means a conflict fought by groups, or smaller countries, which are backed by and support the interests of larger powers, has been seized on by the Russian embassy in London.
The Russian embassy has come out in suport of Ms Badenoch’s comments (Image: Sky News)
The embassy shared the clip of Ms Badenoch on their social media, along with the statement: “Kemi Badenoch has finally called a spade a spade. Ukraine is indeed fighting a proxy-war against Russia on behalf of Western interests. The illegitimate Kiev regime, created, financed and armed by the West, has been at it since 2014.”
In a rambling caption, the embassy made the spurious claim that then Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Ukraine when “peace was at hand” and told them to fight on. The former PM went to Ukraine in March 2022, just weeks after Russian forces had launched an unprovoked ground assault on Kyiv.
Mr Johnson was the first Western leader to visit Ukraine after Russia’s illegal invasion in February 2022, and his actions pushing for sanctions and a collective response from the West to Kremlin aggression have often been cited as some of the finest moments of his premiership.
The Embassy statement added that the war started by Moscow had been “an unmitigated disaster for Ukraine and its people, as well as an unprecedented security crisis in Europe”.
It continued by calling the war “Russia’s Special Military Operation” and stating that the conflict’s aim was to “end to the proxy war and restore peace.”
The Russian Embassy in London have come out in support of the Conservative leader’s comments (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster/ Daily Express )
It’s doubtful Ms Badenoch will lose any sleep over the posting from the Russian Embassy, as she has previously said she “wouldn’t be afraid” to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a dictator.
Her words came after the Trump administration used the term to describe Ukraine’s President Zelensky in February prior to an explosive meeting between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office on February 28.
Posting on X at the time, Ms Badenoch wrote: “President Zelensky is not a dictator. He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion.
“Under my leadership, and under successive Conservative Prime Ministers, we have and always will stand with Ukraine.”
