Reeves suggests two-child benefit cap will fully go, saying children in big families should not be ‘penalised’
And this is what Rachel Reeves said about child poverty.
I don’t think we can lose sight of the costs to our economy in allowing child poverty to go unchecked.
And, in the end, a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money.
Now in many cases you might have a mum and dad who were both in work, but perhaps one of them has developed a chronic illness. Perhaps one of them has passed away.
There are plenty of reasons why people make decisions to have three, four children, but then find themselves in difficult times … lots and lots of different reasons why families change shape and size over time.
And I don’t think that it’s right that a child is penalised because they are in a bigger family through no fault of their own.
And so we will take action on child poverty.
The last Labour government, a proudly reduced child poverty. We will reduce child poverty as well.
Last week it was reported that Reeves would ameliorate the impact of the two-child benefit cap in the budget, but that she would not get rid off it altogether. The Treasury has been looking at various compromise options, such as having a three-child benefit cap.
But this comment strongly implies that Reeves is going for full abolition of the cap. The lobbying from Gordon Brown seems to have worked. (See 2.52pm.)
These are from my colleague Pippa Crerar.
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full* “I don’t think a child should be penalised because they’re in a bigger family through no fault of their own,” she tells BBC.
Keir Starmer has consistently told colleagues he wants to lift the cap, as the most effective way to drive down child poverty, despite political pressure from some aides and ministers not to.
One ally tells me: “Keir has always said he wants to drive down child poverty in government. It would mortify him if it went up on his watch.
“He’s adamant that it will dwarf what Blair did to reduce child poverty in government. It really matters to him.”
Key events
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Afternoon summary
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Chloe Mawson becomes first woman appointed as top official in Lords since role first emerged more than 700 years ago
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Prisons minister Lord Timpson there will be no ‘quick fix’ to problem of prisoners being released by mistake
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Reeves suggests two-child benefit cap will fully go, saying children in big families should not be ‘penalised’
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Reeves says children should not be penalised for being in big family
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Reeves suggests she has decided breaking manifesto tax pledge better than alternative option
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Reeves suggests budget will involve spending cuts as well as tax rises
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Rachel Reeves interviewed on Radio 5 Live
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DUP education minister Paul Givan survives no confidence vote under cross-community rules, after unionists back him
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Farage says he’s still in favour of PR – but he suggests he would prioritise allowing voters to trigger referendums on policy
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Farage suggests Reform UK would scrap Office for Budget Responsibility
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BBC apologises for ‘error of judgment’ in TV edit that implied Trump made ‘direct call’ for violent attack on US Capitol
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Farage says BBC should have to compete against other broadcasters via subscription model
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Farage says VAT threshold for businesses ‘far too low’
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Farage says BBC’s Panorama edit was ‘election interference’, and Trump reacted ‘not in quotable form’
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Farage says Trump complained to him about BBC in conversation they had on Friday
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Farage thanks Lord Bamford for JCB’s £200,000 donation to Reform UK
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Farage claims UK living under ‘global corporatism’, not capitalism, and that entrepreneurs aren’t respected
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Farage says small business owners who thought Brexit would cut regulation have been betrayed because opposite happened
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Farage says Reform UK would champion small businesses, claiming they don’t ‘get look in’ under Labour or Tories
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DUP education minister Paul Givan faces no confidence vote at Stormont over trip to Israel
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Tories urge Met police commissioner to reject report he commissioned saying culture of force leads to racial harm
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Around 300,000 households experienced acute homelessness in 2024, up 21% over 2 years, Crisis charity says
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Labour could suffer Lib Dem-style election drubbing for breaking manifesto promise if they raise taxes, Reeves warned
Afternoon summary
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Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has suggested that she will get rid of the two-child benefit cap in its entirety in her budget, telling the BBC in an interview that no child should be “penalised because they are in a bigger family through no fault of their own”. (See 3.16pm.)
The Channel is now a revolving door for illegal immigration, and Keir Starmer is waving them through with taxpayer-funded hotel keys. Since the French returns deal was announced nearly 18,000 illegal immigrants have arrived and only a handful removed. Allowing 99.5 per cent of illegal Channel immigrants to stay is no deterrent at all, which is why they continue to flood in.
In an article for the Guardian, Zack Polanski, the new Green leader, says the many personal attacks levelled against him show that the establishment is alarmed by the success of his party. He says:
It’s obvious to me why these attacks have become so ferocious: it’s because more and more people are backing a party with policies that will dismantle the economic consensus and focus relentlessly on the cost of living. Three-quarters of people support a wealth tax – yet none of the establishment parties will touch it. So parts of the media close ranks when the vast wealth of their owners and the policies of their friends in Westminster come under threat.
Here is the full article.
Chloe Mawson becomes first woman appointed as top official in Lords since role first emerged more than 700 years ago
Chloe Mawson has been appointed Clerk of the Parliaments, the most senior official in the House of Lords, it has been announced. She will be the first woman to hold the post since the role emerged more than 700 years ago.
As Clerk of the Parliaments, she will be the most senior official in the Lords, in charge of administration and the senior adviser on procedure. Currently she is clerk assistant, a senior official in the house.
Announcing the appointment, Angela Smith, the leader of the Lords, said:
I am delighted to be able to confirm His Majesty’s approval of Chloe as our next Clerk of the Parliaments. She is widely respected across the house for her knowledge, experience and skills.
Prisons minister Lord Timpson there will be no ‘quick fix’ to problem of prisoners being released by mistake
Lord Timpson, the prisons minister, told peers this afternoon that solving the problem with prisoner release mistakes would not be a “quick fix”.
Responding to a private notice question about prisoners being released in error, which became a national controversy after David Lammy, the deputy PM, dodged questions on this topic at PMQs last week, Timpson said:
Any release in error is one too many. Releases in error have been increasing for years and are another symptom of the justice system crisis inherited by this government.
The Ministry of Justice has already taken immediate steps, including introducing stronger release checks with more direct senior accountability, commissioning an independent review to tackle this issue, which has persisted for too long, and deploying a digital rapid response unit to all prisons to modernise release facilities.
Timpson said that three things happened while the last Conservative government was in power that made the situation worse. He said that the Tories did not build enough prisons, that they reduced stafffing levels in jails, and that they did not invest in digital technology, meaning officers dealing with releases had to spend “hours and hours with boxes of paperwork”.
He said:
This is not a quick fix. This has been getting worse for a number of years and it is going to take time to get it right.
Tomorrow the Commons will sit again after a short recess and Lammy is expected to make his own statement to MPs about prison release errors.
Reeves suggests two-child benefit cap will fully go, saying children in big families should not be ‘penalised’
And this is what Rachel Reeves said about child poverty.
I don’t think we can lose sight of the costs to our economy in allowing child poverty to go unchecked.
And, in the end, a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money.
Now in many cases you might have a mum and dad who were both in work, but perhaps one of them has developed a chronic illness. Perhaps one of them has passed away.
There are plenty of reasons why people make decisions to have three, four children, but then find themselves in difficult times … lots and lots of different reasons why families change shape and size over time.
And I don’t think that it’s right that a child is penalised because they are in a bigger family through no fault of their own.
And so we will take action on child poverty.
The last Labour government, a proudly reduced child poverty. We will reduce child poverty as well.
Last week it was reported that Reeves would ameliorate the impact of the two-child benefit cap in the budget, but that she would not get rid off it altogether. The Treasury has been looking at various compromise options, such as having a three-child benefit cap.
But this comment strongly implies that Reeves is going for full abolition of the cap. The lobbying from Gordon Brown seems to have worked. (See 2.52pm.)
These are from my colleague Pippa Crerar.
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full* “I don’t think a child should be penalised because they’re in a bigger family through no fault of their own,” she tells BBC.
Keir Starmer has consistently told colleagues he wants to lift the cap, as the most effective way to drive down child poverty, despite political pressure from some aides and ministers not to.
One ally tells me: “Keir has always said he wants to drive down child poverty in government. It would mortify him if it went up on his watch.
“He’s adamant that it will dwarf what Blair did to reduce child poverty in government. It really matters to him.”
Here is the full quote from Rachel Reeves when she was asked about breaking a manifesto promise. (See 2.49pm.) She replied:
It would, of course, be possible to stick with the manifesto commitments. But that would require things like deep cuts in capital spending, and the reason why our productivity and our growth has been so poor in these last few years is because governments have always taken the easy option to cut investment in rail and road projects, in energy projects and digital infrastructure. And as a result, we’ve never managed to get our productivity back to where it was before the financial crisis.
This is similar to what she said at her press conference last week.
Q: How do you relax when you are not working?
Reeves says she spends time with her children. They went to fireworks on Saturday.
And she goes running, she says.
Q: Do people recognise you?
Reeves says she keeps her head down.
And she does not listen to the Today progamme. This morning she was listening to Raye, she says.
And that is the end of the interview.
Reeves says children should not be penalised for being in big family
Reeves refers to the Crisis figures on homelessness today. (See 9.48am.)
She says homelessness has an economic cost, as well as a social cost.
She says it is not right for a child to be penalised because they are in a big family.
So the government will act on child poverty, she says.
UPDATE: See 3.16pm for the full quote.
Q: Will you scrap the two-child benefit in full, as Gordon Brown wants?
Reeves says she saw Brown yesterday, and he has emailed her today.
She says Brown and Tony Blair are big heroes for her because of what they did on child poverty.
No one should be in any doubt about my commitment to ending the scourge of child poverty.
Q: Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, said that you should stick to the manifesto.
Reeves says “Lucy has been very clear since that interview that she stands alongside me, and the decisions that I’ll need to make in that, budget”.
Reeves suggests she has decided breaking manifesto tax pledge better than alternative option
Q: We did you promise in the manifest not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT?
Reeves says the manifesto was based on what they were going to inherit.
But the economic inheritance has turned out to be worse.
Q: What is the point of a manifesto if it does not last?
Reeves says she will set out her decisions in the budget.
It would have been possible to stick to the manifesto, she said. But that would have meant deep cuts.
UPDATE: See 3.04pm for the full quote.
Reeves suggests budget will involve spending cuts as well as tax rises
Q: Taxes are going up in the budget, aren’t they?
Reeves says she will announce her decision at the budget.
But two factors have changed the context.
The OBR has revised its estimate for productivity growth.
And the world economy has been affected by conflicts and disruptions, she says (referring to tariffs.)
Q: This means taxes are going up, doesn’t it?
Reeves says she has had to look at taxes and spending. It has to mean “both of those things”, she says.
Q: Only 10% of people have confidence in you as chancellor? Why is that?
Reeves says she is dealing with challenging economic situation.
Q: I interviewed you last year, and you said this was a dream job. Is it now a nightmare for you?
No, says Reeves.
She says as chancellor you do not get to choose the circumstances in which you serve.
In difficult circumstances, she says it is even more important to have a chancellor with the right priorities.
She says most of her career as an MP she was in opposition. She prefers being in government.
Q: Has being in government been harder than you expected?
Reeves says there have been challenges, like the need for higher defence spending, and Trump’s tariffs policy.
Q: Have any of your decisions made things worse?
Reeves says every decision has an impact. She did put up taxes, she says. But if she had not done that, there would have been a need to borrow more.
She says, as a result of her decisions, they have brought down waiting lists and interest rates.
Doing nothing was not an option, she says.
Rachel Reeves interviewed on Radio 5 Live
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is being interviewed by Matt Chorley on Radio 5 Live.
Chorley starts with the BBC story.
Q: Do you have confidence in the BBC?
Yes, says Reeves. She says it is respected the world over.
Q: What do you think about President Trump’s legal threat?
That is not a matter for me, Reeves says.
DUP education minister Paul Givan survives no confidence vote under cross-community rules, after unionists back him
The bid to force Northern Ireland’s DUP education minister Paul Givan from office through a vote of no confidence following controversy over his recent visit to Israel (see 10.58am) has failed, PA Media reports.
The no-confidence motion was supported by 47 out of 80 MLAs who voted, but fell because it did not gather support from a majority of both nationalist and unionist representatives, as required by the rules of the Northern Ireland assembly.
During a heated debate, the motion brought by People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll was supported by Sinn Féin, the Alliance party and the SDLP.
It was opposed by the DUP, the Ulster Unionist party and TUV MLA Timothy Gaston.
