Keir Starmer says Labour will keep cruel Tory two-child benefit limit if elected
Labour won't axe the controversial two-child benefit limit which has been blamed for pushing families into poverty.
Keir Starmer said Labour is "not changing that policy" after mounting pressure from his own side to ditch the cruel limit.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jon Ashworth told the Mirror last month that the policy was "heinous" and it was "absolutely keeping children in poverty".
Labour's welfare chief echoed criticism from ex-Tory minister David Freud, saying: "He was absolutely correct to describe it as a vicious policy."
But Mr Starmer made it clear Labour would keep the policy, devised by Tory austerity architect George Osborne.
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Asked if the cap could be removed on BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said: "“We are not changing that policy.”
The controversial two-child limit, which was introduced in 2017, restricts welfare payments to larger families in a bid to force parents into work.
Official statistics last week found one in 10 children - around 1.5 million kids - live in households affected by the curbs. Parents can lose out on up to £3,235 a year per child in 2023/24 under the rules.
Mr Starmer tweeted in February 2020 that he wanted to scrap it but has now dropped his support amid dire economic circumstances. The row exposes divisions in Labour ranks ahead of a crunch policy summit at the end of the month.
Union reps, grassroots activists, MPs and some shadow ministers will gather in Nottingham to thrash out ideas for Labour's manifesto ahead of the next election.
Fault lines are emerging over issues such as free school meals, public ownership and welfare policy, with backbenchers increasingly speaking out.
Ann Black, a member of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, criticised Mr Starmer's comments on the two-child limit today.
She tweeted: "This is wrong. It punishes children for the actions of their parents.
"What has the third or fourth child done to deserve this?"
She also pointed to the Mirror's interview with Mr Ashworth, adding: "Jonathan Ashworth is right."
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Momentum, the left-wing activists network, said: "As Jon Ashworth said, this is a heinous policy.
"The labour movement is united behind scrapping it. But once again the Labour Leadership sides with the Daily Mail instead."
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch urged the Labour leader to show he is on the "side of the people".
Mr Lynch told Sky News: "He should be saying something about workers' rights, he should say stuff about funding the NHS, national care service, looking after people who are struggling in the housing market, council houses for the masses, controlling rents, addressing all sorts of stuff about what's going to happen in the imbalance in our society.
"He's not saying any of that, he won't dare mention the word socialism, I want to hear that word mentioned frequently and I want to see a redistribution of wealth in our society, because there are a lot of very wealthy people and there are too many very poor people."
Mr Starmer was grilled repeatedly on whether Labour would increase spending on public services during the interview.
He said: "A Labour government will always want to invest in its public services. The way to invest in our public services is to grow our economy."
But he refused to confirm whether Labour would increase spending.
The Labour leader repeatedly refused to give details on how he would resolve the bitter junior doctors pay dispute.
"I'd do this differently by growing the economy. We have to grow, grow, grow our economy."
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