Tories warn “work is being punished while worklessness is rewarded” under Sir Keir Starmer
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)
Labour‘s scrapping of the two-child benefit cap will see an unemployed families handed an average of £25,000, according to new analysis. The research by the Tories found the move will cost an eye-watering £14 billion over five years. Almost half of the money will go to out-of-work families, with an average of £25,000 per workless household in that period, according to the analysis. The Conservatives have vowed to vote against the legislation when it returns to the Commons on Tuesday.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “Labour are unleashing a £14 billion benefits spending spree. Worse, this shovels nearly half the cash to jobless households with average payouts of £25,000. Work is being punished while worklessness is rewarded.”
She added: “Keir Starmer was happy to take money away from pensioners, but he doesn’t have the backbone to say no to his own MPs when they demand runaway welfare spending.
“Labour and Reform both want to blow the cap. Only the Conservatives are willing to say no, restore discipline to welfare, support work, and protect taxpayers.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the two-child benefit cap would be axed in her Budget last November following intense pressure from Left-wing Labour MPs.
The cap, introduced under the Tories in 2017, restricts universal or child tax credit to the first two children in most households, but has been criticised by child poverty campaigners.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has vowed to reinstate it if her party wins the next general election.
Reform UK has said it would ditch the cap for families when both parents are born in the UK and working full time.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The welfare bill rocketed by nearly £60billion under the Tories. They’re delusional to think anyone would take advice from them.
“Labour is lifting nearly half a million kids out of poverty. Reform and the Tories would cruelly plunge them back into that misery.”
