One of the most contested welfare policies of the last decade is on its way out. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to scrap the two-child benefit cap in next month's Budget, the BBC's political editor Chris Mason reported on Tuesday, in a move long demanded by Labour MPs, anti-poverty campaigners and the party's own deputy leadership contenders.
The cap, introduced under the Conservatives, limits means-tested benefits to the first two children in a family. Lifting it would cost the Treasury billions, and the expected announcement sets up a direct political fight: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has already attacked the anticipated decision, framing it as a tax-and-spend turn by the government in London.
The timing is sharpened by Labour's internal politics. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham's manoeuvring toward a possible leadership challenge has raised the cost for Starmer of ignoring the party's left and its local-government wing, for whom the cap is a signature injustice.
For families, the change would be material and immediate: hundreds of thousands of households stand to gain if the cap is lifted in full. The Budget will confirm the detail — and whether the prime minister pays for it with savings elsewhere or lets borrowing absorb the cost.
