TO have been a fly on the wall in the Scottish Labour branch office when Keir Starmer announced proudly on the BBC that a Labour government would not be getting rid of the two-child benefit cap.
Labour MSPs were rightly quick out the gate to condemn the Labour leader for his actions. Anas Sarwar called for Sir Keir to backtrack on his stance immediately.
Yes, it would be yet another Labour U-turn, but at least this one would be in the right direction.
As always, what Sarwar and Scottish Labour think has proven to be utterly irrelevant to their bosses in London. When it comes to adopting Tory policies, Starmer’s Labour ain’t for turning.
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The two-child limit is an abhorrent and cruel policy. It means a parent will only receive child benefit for up to two children. Support for a third child will only be provided if it can be proved the third child was conceived through rape.
That’s what voting Tory – and now Labour – gets you. This is a policy that has already pushed 250,000 children into poverty, and as the cost of living crisis rumbles on, that number will only increase.
The price of ending this heinous policy is thought to be around £1.3 billion. There is a plethora of ways this money could be raised which the Tories and Labour simply refuse to acknowledge. For example, if you look at share buybacks – countries across the world apply a small tax yet the Tories have refused to give consideration to our calls. Sir Keir has also made clear that Labour are wedded to the Tories’ fiscal approach.
As Stephen Flynn shamed and challenged the Labour front bench at PMQs, the heckles thrown back at him were “well why don’t you do something about it?” and “you reverse it then!”. Once again highlighting the ignorance of Labour in Westminster when it comes to Scotland.
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We don’t have the power to scrap the cap in the Scottish Parliament.
The reality is that we don’t hold a budget for reserved areas of welfare spend so every single penny must come from an area of responsibility we do hold – these are not easy choices to make.
Particularly when the Scottish Government already spends around £100 million a year mitigating Tory Westminster policies. Imagine how better spent those millions could be if we had full control over social security in the Scottish Parliament.
That won’t happen since both Labour and the Conservatives have blocked the idea at every turn.
The cap can only be, and should only be, ended at source. That’s the bottom line and it really is an act of cowardice for a Labour leader to shirk that responsibility.
Labour’s lead over the Tories in recent polls isn’t driven by any vision of hope, but rather a desperate desire to get rid of the Tories.
The Tories are so epically rotten that this chancer Starmer looks set to become prime minister without committing to anything for the people in Scotland.
Stephen was spot on when he asked – what is the point of Labour?
It is a valid question and one that people in Scotland are asking themselves every single day at the moment. A Labour government replacing a Conservative government changes absolutely nothing when they are committed to keeping swathes of Conservative policies.
Our First Minister has been kind enough to offer Labour some advice and the opportunity to work together to alleviate child poverty.
Despite the fact I hope Labour will accept such a sensible offer, I doubt they will. If they don’t listen to their own MSPs, what chance do we have?
The truth is that the SNP have replaced the Labour Party as the party of Tory opposition.
People in Scotland vote SNP for an independent Scotland – of course they do – but they also vote SNP because we are the party that will stand up for those that need help the most in our society and will give every person the opportunities we can with the limited powers we have at our disposal.
Westminster can’t deliver the change Scotland needs, only independence can. Only we can.
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