Two-child benefit cap a ‘failed social experiment’ that had to go, PM says

Ditching the cap will cost about £3 billion by the end of this Parliament, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Sir Keir Starmer has condemned the two-child benefit cap as a “failed social experiment” after Rachel Reeves announced the abolition of the limit in her tax-raising Budget.

The Prime Minister argued the move, which is set to cost £3 billion by the end of the Parliament, would lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and serve as “an investment in Britain’s future”.

Opposition critics have said the Chancellor made the “wrong choices” in her Budget by hiking taxes alongside increased welfare spending, and that people should consider their finances when deciding on the size of their family.

But Sir Keir said those supporting the cap stood for “moral fa