Starmer ‘Proudest’ of Axing Two-Child Cap – After Punishing MPs for Voting to Scrap It

Keir Starmer has described scrapping the two-child benefit cap as his proudest moment as prime minister – despite previously suspending Labour MPs for voting for its removal. 

Starmer was asked “What have you been most proud of as prime minister?” in an interview with Beth Rigby on Sky News on Wednesday. 

“Lifting half a million children out of poverty by removing the two-child benefit cap,” he replied.  

“That is something I’m proud of because that will be felt not just this year, next year, not just during the duration of this government, but for those children it will be felt for the rest of their lives.”

However, Starmer’s boast has drawn accusations of hypocrisy from social media users, who have pointed to his previous decision to punish his own MPs for voting for the policy.   

In July 2024 Starmer withdrew the whip from seven backbench Labour MPs for backing a Scottish National Party amendment calling for the cap to be axed.  

The amendment was defeated by 363 votes to 103, with rebel MPs John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Imran Hussain, Ian Byrne and Zarah Sultana all suspended from the Labour party. An additional 42 Labour MPs abstained. 

The two-child benefit cap was announced by the Conservatives in 2015 and came into law in 2017. 

The restriction allowed families to only claim universal credit and child tax credit for their first two children, leading to soaring child poverty, according to Resolution Foundation data. 

After Labour’s victory in July 2024, Starmer and his chancellor Rachel Reeves repeatedly claimed that abolishing the cap was unaffordable.  

The government officially removed the two-child cap in April this year, following pressure from unions, left-leaning Labour MPs and child poverty campaigners.

The policy disproportionately penalised single parents and the working class, with 50% of families affected by the cap living in a one-parent home and at least 57% impacted by the policy having at least one adult in paid work, HMRC statistics found.