Starmer says government ‘will look at’ scrapping two-child benefits limit

Published

2 days ago

May 29, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer has said his government “will look at” scrapping the two-child benefits limit.

In his strongest hint yet that he will perform a U-turn – when asked if he would scrap the two-child benefit cap, Sir Keir said: “We’ll look at all options of driving down child poverty.”

The cap means families can only claim child tax credit and universal credit for their first two children, if they were born after April 2017.

It was introduced in 2017 by the Conservative government, and in 2023, Sir Keir ruled out scrapping it.

However, as Labour came to power last year, he said the party wanted to remove the cap but only when fiscal conditions allowed.

But he then doubled down on refusing to lift it, suspending seven Labour MPs shortly after the election victory for voting with the SNP to remove the cap.

Ministers had toed the party line for months, but the narrative started to shift in May, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson telling Sky News on Tuesday lifting the cap is “not off the table” – and “it’s certainly something that we’re considering”.

Sir Keir was also reported to have asked the Treasury to see how scrapping it could be funded.

His words on Thursday are his strongest indication yet, that he could lift the cap soon.

It would mean a second benefits U-turn after he made a shock announcement last week that he was going to relax the winter fuel payment cut.

The policy, announced soon after Labour won the election, has caused anger among Sir Keir’s own MPs as it restricted the previously universal payment to those who receive pension credit.

It will now be available to “more pensioners”, but details of who and when have not been revealed.

Politics

IMF raises concern over Pakistan’s Bitcoin mining power plan: report

Published

2 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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IMF raises concern over Pakistan’s Bitcoin mining power plan: report

IMF questions Pakistan’s plan to allocate 2,000 megawatts of electricity for Bitcoin mining amid energy shortages and budget talks.

Politics

‘No doubt’ UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

Published

5 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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'No doubt' UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.

This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.

Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”

A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.

This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.

The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.

While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.

The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.

“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”

Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.

The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.

On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.

Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.

He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.

“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.

“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”