Labour 'don't want to give people false hope' over scrapping two child benefit cap

Labour "don't want to give people false hope" over scrapping the two-child benefit cap, Rachel Reeves has said.

The Shadow Chancellor said on a visit to Scotland that she wouldn't make promises she can't keep because "I don't want to let people down."

The senior Labour figure was visiting Whitelee wind farm in East Renfrewshire on a campaign visit on Monday morning.

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

Scottish Labour would like to scrap the cap but UK Labour has so far failed to commit to doing so if it wins the election.

The party didn't include getting rid of the limit in its manifesto.

When asked by the Record if she would provide money to scrap the cap, Reeves said: "There are lots of things that we would like to do but the public finances are in an absolute mess after 14 years of Conservative Government."

She continued: "It means that we're not going to be able to do everything we want to do as quickly as we would like to do it.

"And that means difficult decisions. Would I like a different inheritance from the Tories? Absolutely, I would.

"I voted against the government during the two child thing. But we have to accept the inheritance that the Conservatives have left us and it is going to take time to turn around that damage.

"That's being honest. And I want to be honest with people. I don't want to make promises without being able to say where the money is going to come from.

"I won't make promises unless I know I can keep them that's why everything in our manifesto is fully costed and fully funded."

When asked if she was leaving the option open to removing the cap in the future, she said: "I'm not going to make any promises without being able say where the money's going to come from.

"I don't want to give people false hope.

"So that's why everything in our manifesto, whether it is the action to reduce NHS waiting lists, the action to invest in opportunities for all young people, GB energy capitalised with £8.3 billion of public money and the national wealth funds £7.3bn to unlock good jobs here in Scotland because there's so much potential, all of those things I can tell you, we're going to do because I can tell you where the money is going to come from.

"I don't want to be one of those politicians that makes promises on a wing and a prayer and not being able to say where the money's gonna come from that goes contrary to everything I believe in.

"I won't make any promises that I can't keep because I don't want to let people down."

The number of children set to be affected by the cap will rise by a third in the next five years.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said 250,000 more children across the UK will be affected in the next year alone. This will increase to 670,000 by the end of the next parliament.

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