Child poverty stifles opportunity. It makes it harder for children to do well at school, get on in life, and it hurts our economy and our country in the long term.
Here in Llanelli, it is a scourge that I see every day and one that needs us all to concentrate our hearts and minds to consign it to the dustbins of history.
Labour have tackled child poverty before and it is our defining mission to do it again.
Under the last Labour government, child poverty fell by 600,000 but under the Tories, it has increased by 900,000. Tackling child poverty is not just a moral imperative — it is a long-term investment. That’s why we’re taking action to scrap the two-child limit from April, alongside a package of measures that will drive down in-work poverty by raising the minimum wage and creating more secure jobs by strengthening rights at work.
Reversing the two-child limit taken in conjunction with other policies already announced will take 550,000 children out of poverty – the largest reduction in a single Parliament since records began.
Our strategy to tackle child poverty, is set across three pillars:
1. Boosting families’ incomes
2. Driving down the cost of essentials
3. Strengthening local services
Together, our actions represent a decisive break with the past and we remain passionately committed to giving every child the best start in life, ensuring that no child’s future is limited by the circumstances of their birth.
When coming into office just over a year ago, we inherited a system failing children and families. Child poverty levels are at a historic high and are still rising with almost three in four children growing up in poverty today are in a working family.
Poverty is not just about income – it affects every aspect of a child’s life. From health, to housing, to education and life chances, the consequences are severe and long-lasting. If we fail to act now, thousands more children will fall into hardship, and the cost will be felt for decades.
The two-child limit is the single biggest driver of rising child poverty. It is a failed experiment designed to punish parents – but for which children have paid the price. The majority of families affected are in work, showing this policy penalises working households rather than incentivising employment.
This alone will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, including over 2,200 in Llanelli, and the decision to do so will pay for itself many times over by reducing the long-term costs of poverty – such as poorer health, lower educational attainment, and lost productivity. In doing so, we will also remove the vile and inhumane policy known as the “rape clause”, requiring women to prove if their children have been conceived non-consensually to receive support.
The overall benefit cap, however, will remain in place, to maintain a fair system – upholding fairness between in-work and out-of-work households. It encourages people into work by limiting how much benefits out-of-work households can receive.
By raising the Universal Credit childcare cap, we will improve work incentives by strengthening childcare support. It is not right that we have a system that makes it harder for large families to work, or work more, due to childcare costs. We will also extend eligibility to upfront childcare costs to parents returning from parental leave to ease the difficult transition back to work.
Finally, also confirmed last week, we will reduce costs for families by making infant formula more affordable. The cost of some infant formula brands has risen by 25% in two years, putting pressure on families who cannot or choose not to breastfeed. We will implement the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations, including reassuring parents that all infant formula sold in the UK is safe and nutritionally complete and updating guidance to allow the use of loyalty points, gift cards, and vouchers. These changes could save new parents up to £300–£540 in a baby’s first year.
We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball on child poverty for a single second.
Excellent progress will be made as a result of the recent Budget and the launch of the UK Government’s Child Poverty Strategy but there is still much more to do. I will continue to campaign and fight for its eradication not only across the UK but, just as importantly, in every community that I represent in the Llanelli constituency.
This is an opportunity and a challenge that we simply cannot afford to ignore.