Labour's Welsh government still opposed to two-child benefit limit

The Labour Welsh government says it is still opposed to the two-child limit on claiming some benefits despite Sir Keir Starmer saying he will keep it.

The UK Labour leader has faced a backlash from across his party for the comments on Sunday.

Plaid Cymru said the first minister should call for Sir Keir to reconsider.

A spokesperson for Mr Drakeford said he hopes a future UK Labour government would "put tackling child poverty at the centre of everything it does".

In March the Welsh Labour leader and first minister described the limit as the "single greatest driver of child poverty".

The policy, introduced in 2017, places a limit on tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in a family.

Figures from the UK government suggest at least 19,000 households were impacted.

A Welsh government spokesman confirmed there was "no change" to a statement made by the administration last month, which called on the UK government to remove the limit.

Later, a spokesperson for the Welsh Labour leader said: "The priority must be to get a Labour government elected so we can begin to clear up the mess created by the Tories.

"The next Labour government will inherit a broken economy after more than a decade of austerity and the dreadful Liz Truss administration. It is our hope it will put tackling child poverty at the centre of everything it does."

Welsh Labour MP for Cynon Valley, Beth Winter, said she was "shocked and perplexed" by Sir Keir's comments.

Her party colleague, Newport West MP Ruth Jones, said the limit should be scrapped "but we need to ensure fiscal responsibility before we do so".

"But that doesn't mean it should be taken off the table of aspirations for the next Labour government," she said.

Labour frontbenchers who have defended Sir Keir's refusal to support axing the cap said it was because it would constitute an unfunded spending commitment.

In the interview with BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Keir refused to say if a Labour government would spend more money on public services.

The leader of the opposition's refusal to abolish the two-child limit is expected to be challenged at a meeting of his party's policy body this weekend.

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At a Senedd committee meeting in March, Mr Drakeford expressed disappointment the cap had not been scrapped in the spring budget.

"If you look at the things that drive poverty, the budget left them wholly untouched," he said, adding there was "nothing to abolish the benefit cap and the two-child limit, the single greatest driver of child poverty".

'Pressure your party leader'

A letter to the first minister from Plaid MP Hywel Williams and Senedd member Luke Fletcher called for Mr Drakeford to "use your position within the Labour party to pressure your party leader" to continue to oppose the policy.

"This change would be particularly important in Wales given we have some of the highest child poverty rates in the UK, with over one in four children living in poverty," they wrote.

"The Welsh government in the past has been rightly critical of the two-child limit for breaking the link between need and entitlement, and you and other Welsh ministers have urged the UK government to abolish the policy.

"For consistency if for nothing else, Plaid Cymru urge you to continue taking a clear stance on this matter.

"Please do not let children in Wales down by continuing to oppose the two-child limit and use your position within the Labour Party to pressure your party leader to do the same."

Plaid Cymru is in a co-operation agreement with Mr Drakeford, which sees them work with the Welsh government on a group of policies.

'Wrong time'

Ms Winter told BBC Newsnight on Monday she "really was shocked and perplexed at this announcement yesterday".

"Five thousand children living in my constituency are in extreme circumstances and this is the wrong time to be making such announcements," she said.

Another Labour MP Nia Griffith defended her party leader's decision not to abolish the two-child limit.

The member for Llanelli said that "when people see us trying to be a bit more realistic, trying to say well we won't be able to do everything straight away, we'll have to programme things in, it'll have to be gradual".

"I think then they think we're more electable because we're not trying to promise the world which they just don't believe we'd ever deliver."