Keir Starmer vows to end child poverty but refuses to scrap two-child benefit cap again

Keir Starmer has said that eradicating child poverty is "central" but again refused to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

The UK Labour leader said his party would "put a strategy in place" for ending child poverty. But he said "there are things that we might want to do but we can't because the economy has been damaged."

Starmer was speaking in Essex as he launched Labour's "first steps for change".

The six pledges were mostly about devolved issues - like policing, education and the NHS - but Labour will set out different ones for Scotland in the future.

He said: "Ending child poverty is central. It was central to the last Labour Government, we did a huge amount of work on it.

"It will be central to an incoming Labour Government if we're privileged to come in to serve and we will put a strategy in place for it.

"Child poverty cannot be divorced from education, from housing, from the cost-of-living, from bills down. they are all in a way feeding into the strategy to deal with poverty."

The benefits cap, announced by Tory George Osborne when he was Chancellor a decade go, limits Universal Credit and child tax credits to the first two children..

Critics say the measure has fuelled poverty by punishing larger families who rely on benefits.

Starmer refused to commit to scrapping it: "What I can't do is make promises that I can't deliver on. And this is really important to the question about hope.

"Because where we've had to say now: there are things that we might want to do but we can't because the economy has been damaged.

"I want to say that this side of the election, I don't want to be saying that the other side of the election.

"And that's tough. The easy thing is just to pretend we can deliver a nice big wheelbarrow of things that we could deliver.

"But if we can't deliver, I'm not going to say it. Because I think that's the stable foundation we need in politics now for the economy."

New SNP First Minister John Swinney has said that eradicating child poverty is his key aim.

He wrote to Starmer last week to discuss working together to do so.

The SNP and Scottish Labour have both called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.

SNP Westminster Depute Leader Mhairi Black said: "Sir Keir Starmer's speech was full of broken promises and empty slogans - demonstrating why voting SNP is the only way to stand up for Scotland, protect our NHS, and advance our journey towards independence.

"On the biggest issues damaging the UK, from austerity cuts to Brexit, the Labour Party is wedded to the same reckless policies as the Tories.

"You can't stabilise the economy if you are trashing it with Brexit, and you can't deliver strong public services if you are imposing billions of pounds of cuts to our NHS, schools and police.

"The problem for Sir Keir is that he has U-turned on nearly every policy he has ever promised - so it's little wonder the public don't trust a single promise he now makes.

"And with no mention of Scotland throughout his speech, it's clear that Sir Keir Starmer intends to be Prime Minister for England only.

"At the general election, only the SNP will stand up for Scotland's values, protect our public services, and progress Scotland's journey to independence."

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