The former Labour leader has a message for the Government: ‘Swallow some pride and scrap the two-child benefit cap’

Jeremy Corbyn claimed the Government is depriving millions of people of a better life (Image: Getty Images)

Rachel Reeves is under fire from the Left and the Right as she puts the finishing touches to her long-awaited spending review. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn claimed the Government is depriving millions of people of a better life and “knows full well” where it could find the money to help the most vulnerable in society.

But former Chancellor Sir Jeremy Hunt warned of “catastrophe” if Ms Reeves scraps the two-child benefit cap and said she had a rare opportunity to take tough decisions to rescue the economy.

Mr Corbyn said: “The Government need to wake up to the real cause of the problems in our society: inequality and corporate greed. The Government says there isn’t enough money to end child poverty, support the disabled or fix our NHS.

“It knows full well where the money is – it’s in the hands of billionaires and giant corporations. It could choose to redistribute wealth tomorrow — and its failure to do so is depriving millions of people of the better life they deserve. It’s time to swallow some pride and scrap the two-child benefit cap, reverse its cruel disability cuts, compensate the Waspi women and restore the winter fuel allowance.”

But former Conservative leadership contender Sir Jeremy said he feared the Chancellor will step back from reform of an “out of control” welfare system.

Pushing Ms Reeves to take action, he said: “We have a Government with a big majority, four years left in its mandate. If anyone can take difficult decisions on things like welfare reform it is this Government now.

If they do that they can avoid growth-destroying tax rises, they can find more money for defence and we can get the economy growing and that’s what we need to see.”

Sir Jeremy warned it “would be a catastrophe if they were to abolish the two-child cap” and urged action to get people into jobs, saying: “If we are to pay for pensions, the NHS, the armed forces, we need to get as many of the workforce into work as we possibly can.”

Daniel Herring of the Centre for Policy Studies warned: “With debt already heading toward 100% of GDP and the tax burden at an 80-year high, we cannot afford another round of unfunded promises.”

Maxwell Marlow, Director of Public Affairs at the Adam Smith Institute, said: “Britain doesn’t have a revenue problem – we have a spending addiction and an ever-expanding welfare state. If we’re serious about getting the economy back on track, we need to cut taxes and shrink the size of Government.”

And Tom Clougherty of the Institute of Economic Affairs predicted: “What we will see is the same old tinkering around the edges that we’ve had for the last 15 years.”

He added: “With record-high taxes and no budget surplus for a quarter of a century, we can’t afford to keep pretending the status quo is sustainable. Hard choices are unavoidable.”

Ms Reeves has said the spending review will be “targeted squarely on the renewal of Britain” and “focused on the priorities of working people”. She said in a speech it will be intended to “deliver on the promise of change to make you and your family better off”.