Education minister backs lifting two-child benefit cap but admits government 'can’t afford it’

Speaking ahead of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, where the policy is expected to be a key issue of debate, Josh MacAlister acknowledged growing political and public pressure to abolish the cap on LBC.

“I want to see [child poverty] come down substantially,” he told Matthew Wright on Saturday morning.

“As an individual politician, I look at all the different ways that you can do that and unquestionably the two-child benefit cap is a major driver of keeping children in poverty. So it's right up there as one of the top things that we could do to tackle it.”

Introduced by the Conservative government in 2017, the cap restricts child benefit payments to the first two children in most households, and has been widely criticised by anti-poverty campaigners, economists, and politicians from across the political spectrum.

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It comes as pressure mounts on Sir Keir Starmer to abolish the cap, with both Labour deputy leadership candidates expressing opposition to the policy along with voices from outside Parliament such as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Despite calling for the policy to be reviewed, Mr MacAlister stressed that lifting the cap - which would cost an estimated £2.6 billion - would require difficult fiscal trade-offs.

“I also know that as a government, we've got to make big and difficult choices about where to put money,” he said.

“The example I would give to lots of people who are talking and thinking about this is that to reintroduce the number of Sure Start centres we had in 2010 - three and a half thousand - would cost about £2.6 billion.

"That’s about the same amount of money as it would cost to lift the two-child benefit cap. Both of those would be really worthwhile things to do if we had the money to do them.”

Sure Start, first launched by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 1998, created a nationwide network of children’s centres offering support for families with children under five. Rebranded under Labour as Best Start, the programme remains central to the party’s early years strategy.

This year, Sir Keir has pledged to expand Best Start hubs to cover every local authority in England, with 1,000 centres expected to be operational by 2028.

Mr MacAlister said the debate over child poverty policy should not focus on single solutions, but on overall impact: “There are big and important trade-offs and choices to make in all of that. So this isn't a debate about should we or shouldn’t we do one measure. The government’s focus on this question is: how do we reduce child poverty?”

At the Labour conference, Sir Keir is expected to make an announcement on the two-child benefit cap, LBC has been told.

LBC understands the PM is looking to make the major intervention as he attempts a huge reset of his government following weeks of turbulence.

He has previously signalled his intention to ditch the policy when economic conditions allow.

Among those calling for Sir Keir to abandon the cap and return to traditional values is Gordon Brown.

The former PM has said the Chancellor should pay for it with changes to gambling levies, which LBC understands are being actively considered by the Treasury.

The cap - which limits benefits to the first two children in a family - affects around 1.7million children across the UK.

Scrapping it would cost £3.5billion a year.