15 May 2024 , 12:00
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Gordon Brown has called for the controversial two-child benefit limit to be axed as he demanded an urgent review of austerity-era policies.
The ex-Labour PM also challenged the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to announce a multi-billion pound programme this year in an emergency drive to tackle child poverty. "This is urgent. We cannot allow another summer, winter, autumn to pass with more children being forced into poverty," Mr Brown said.
But in recent months the Tories' rhetoric on benefits has hardened as the election approaches. In a joint article today Mr Hunt and the DWP Secretary Mel Stride suggested some people are claiming unemployment benefits as a "lifestyle choice" - despite MPs' warnings claimants are unable to afford daily living costs due to the low levels of payments.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Brown said the two-child benefit limit was misunderstood and should be "scrapped". "It's not the third or the fourth child who is the only child that loses out. It's every child because the average loss per family is about £60-per-week. A family on low pay or who is struggling can't afford to lose £60-per-week," he said.
He went on: "We have got to re-think that. I'm really focusing on the September financial statement by the Chancellor because this is an urgent problem. I think you should make this part of a review that has to include for example the bedroom tax, the benefit cap, the housing benefit limit, all these changes that have been introduced".
Date millions on Universal Credit and benefits will get a pay rise this year
He added: "A root-and-branch review of Universal Credit that takes into account the inequities of the two-child rule which I think has got to be scrapped, yes".
His call to action comes after Keir Starmer said his party would not change the policy in a move that caused massive Labour divisions last year. The Labour leader said he was "not changing that policy" in a 2023 interview - despite his Shadow DWP Secretary at the time describing it as "heinous".
Rishi Sunak has also vowed to keep the policy despite his former Home Secretary Suella Braverman blaming it for "aggravating child poverty". Speaking in the Commons earlier this week, the senior Tory MP said scrapping the rule would be the single biggest, most effective thing the government could do now" to tackle child poverty.
The two-child benefit rule was introduced by austerity Chancellor George Osborne back in 2017 and is estimated to save the Treasury around £2.5billion in the current financial year. Under the policy families with a third or subsequent child born from April 2017 claiming benefits can no longer receive additional amounts for these children.
Mr Brown has also published a paper setting out potential emergency anti-poverty measures including bringing back the Sure Start programme, supporting the low waged and unemployed into better paid jobs, and extending the household support fund.
He added: "We are now heading for the worst child poverty figures in living memory. The main cause for this is low pay - 70% of the children are in poverty not because their fathers or mothers are not working, or because they are 'workshy' or lazy. They are working but they simply don't earn enough to make ends meet and it's getting worse."
A Labour spokesman said: "We've set out our position on this previously. We will have a complete strategy on tackling child poverty when we get into government.There are policies we've highlighted, such as the introduction of breakfast clubs within schools. But I don't have anything to add beyond that."