Islington councillors pass motion urging government to scrap two-child benefit cap

Under pressure: Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Photograph: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

Islington councillors have urged the Town Hall leadership to pressure the government into removing the two-child benefit limit.

Last Thursday, members overwhelmingly backed a resolution for the Labour-controlled council to lobby the Starmer administration over the divisive welfare cap.

The policy must still be agreed by the executive, which retains the power to vote down adopting the stance.

The motion calls on the government to “scrap the two-child benefit limit and the benefit cap, and to express that as councillors we supported the removal of the two-child benefit limit at the earliest opportunity”.

The cap, which stops parents claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children, was brought in by the Conservatives in 2017.

During his campaign to become Labour leader, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “we must scrap the two-child limit”, but later backtracked.

Both the Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have said scrapping the cap would cost the government between £2.5bn and £3.6bn when fully rolled out.

Data obtained by the End Child Poverty Coalition last year showed that removing the cap would take 250,000 children across the UK out of poverty.

The initial motion put forward by independent Cllr Phil Graham was made in much harsher terms: “We believe the two-child limit is cruel, inhumane, morally repugnant, and discriminatory and that Islington Council has a responsibility to fight child poverty in Islington and promote national policies that aid this.”

Graham, formerly a Labour councillor, notably quit the party in July over policy disagreements. He said its stance on the benefit limit was the last straw.

Before leaving the party, Graham was suspended for supporting former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s successful re-election campaign as MP for Islington North.

Graham suggested Starmer’s abandonment of his infamous 10 pledges had contributed to his quitting the party.

He now sits on the council benches alongside three other Independent Socialists, who have replaced the Greens as the Town Hall’s main opposition group.

An amendment to the motion from Cllr Diairmaid Ward,  deputy leader and executive member for finance and performance, softened the language but stressed how crucial it was that local residents saw the end of not just the two-child limit, but the benefit cap altogether.

“Child poverty is a severe issue in Islington, where 37 per cent of children live in poverty after housing costs,” it stated.

“Islington is the sixth most deprived borough in London and ranks tenth highest for income deprivation affecting children in England.

“The two-child benefit limit is a punitive policy, withdrawing support for children on the basis of the number of siblings they have[.]

“[But] attention must also be drawn to the benefit cap which places an absolute limit on the income that a household can receive in social security benefits.”

Further research from Glasgow University suggests that cutting child poverty by 35 per cent could prevent 293 infant deaths, 32,650 childhood emergency admissions, and 458 cases of nutritional anaemia.

Graham said it was a “small victory” that a version of the motion had passed, but that “it would have been nice to debate the amendments”.

Despite coming at the eleventh hour, the mayor “graciously” accepted Graham’s motion, he said, “but it was just a sad fact of council work that it got timed out”, meaning the executive’s changes could not be challenged.

He maintained that he would fight to make sure similar policies from the Labour government did not impact the borough.

“Keir [Starmer] has done some things since getting into power which are great, such as trying to re-nationalise the railways, but you can’t attack the poorest in society. You can’t attack the vulnerable.”

Islington’s Independent Socialist group, Graham said, want to hold Labour to account “because we don’t want the lies and deceit to seep down into Islington, which has always been a good borough”.

The two-child limit has sown division within the party ever since Starmer ruled out its removal in 2023.

Days after Labour’s landslide victory in July, seven MPs were suspended from the party after voting in favour of an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling on the new government to withdraw the cap.

A YouGov survey found that 60 per cent of voters want to keep the policy.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson acknowledged in July that although removing the limit would be “expensive”, the government “needs to consider it as one of a number of levers in terms of how we make sure we lift children out of poverty”.

Soon after, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he wanted to see the benefit limit scrapped “as soon as the Labour government can [do it]”.

The next meeting of Islington Council’s executive, where a final decision on the motion is expected, is scheduled for 24 October.