Liz Kendall says government needs to do ‘the sums’ before scrapping two-child benefit cap ahead of potential Commons rebellion
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has been on the media round this morning. After Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson suggested they would be open to axing the two-child benefit cap on Monday, Kendall has tempered these expectations, saying the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
Her words come before a possible rebellion in the Commons for Starmer over the policy. A king’s speech debate could end with a vote on the matter on Tuesday evening if speaker Lindsay Hoyle selects one of several amendments that have been tabled.
Kendall said she is “absolutely passionate about driving down child poverty” and that it is a “real priority for this government”.
When pressed on whether that means abolishing the cap, she told Times Radio that Labour was elected “on the promise that we would only make spending commitments that we know we can keep”.
“I’m not into a wink and a nudge politics,” she said.
“I’m not going to look constituents in the face and tell them I’m going to do something without actually having done the sums, figuring out how I’m going to pay for it, figuring out how we transform opportunity for those children, not just in terms of their household income, which is essential, but about having sustained improvements to helping people get work and get on in work, more childcare, early years support, sorting out the dire state of people’s housing.
“It’s got to be part of a much bigger approach.”
She also stressed that the Labour government cannot tackle the “dire inheritance” from the Tories “overnight”, pointing to crises facing the health service, council budgets, housing and welfare.
On Monday, Phillipson said the newly elected Labour government would “consider” removing the cap “as one of a number of ways” of lifting children out of poverty. Shortly after, Starmer said he agrees with the education secretary’s comments but stopped short of repeating her point about scrapping the cap. A Downing Street spokesperson later denied the government’s position had changed.
Kendall’s words echo that made by chancellor Rachel Reeves on Sunday. She told the BBC she could not pledge to scrap the cap without saying where the £3bn annual cost “is going to come from”.
Key events
Chancellor tells cabinet ‘difficult’ decisions’ on public spending need to be made
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the cabinet that “difficult decisions” would be needed on public spending as the Labour government’s first potential rebellion looms over demands to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “The chancellor provided an update on the exercise the Treasury is undertaking to audit the public spending pressures the government has inherited.
“The chancellor said that there are significant financial pressures facing departments because of decisions taken by the previous government and that difficult decisions will be needed to fix the foundations of the public finances.”
Reeves’s comments echo those made by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall on Tuesday morning when she said the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
A king’s speech debate could end with a vote on the two-child benefits cap on Tuesday evening if speaker Lindsay Hoyle selects one of several amendments that have been tabled. Former chancellor John McDonnell said earlier that he will be voting for an SNP amendment that calls for the scrapping of the cap.
Exclusive: Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen meeting pushed to autumn after plans for early engagement fall through
Lisa O’Carroll
Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet in the autumn after provisional plans for this week for a first face-to-face conversation about the prime minister’s desired reset in UK-EU relations were put on the back burner.
The prime minister was keen for a meeting with Von der Leyen as she had to skip both the recent summit in NATO and last week’s European Political Community summit in Blenheim in the UK.
All EU countries bar Sweden, were represented at the EPC last week giving Starmer a wide opportunity to meet fellow leaders in Europe. However Von der Leyen was otherwise engaged in Strasbourg where she faced a crunch, successful, vote for a second term as president of the European commission.
It is understood the EU had offered this Thursday or Friday for a meeting but diary clashes including the opening of the Olympics on Friday made it impossible for Starmer.
While the first meeting is largely symbolic, diplomats say some member states were also keen to put more clarify on the security and defence framework the UK is seeking to establish with the EU.
A meeting is now expected at the end of August or September.
One source said that given the toxicity of the Brexit narrative under the Conservatives it would be in Starmer’s interest to “get the meeting out of the way early and then move quickly to technical discussions which will be very boring for the media”.
John McDonnell says he will vote for SNP amendment to scrap two-child benefit cap
Former chancellor John McDonnell said he will be voting for an SNP amendment that calls for the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap on Tuesday as Keir Starmer faces his first potential Commons rebellion as prime minister.
McDonnell said in a video posted to X: “37 Labour MPs like me put forward our own amendment to scrap the two-child limit, but that won’t be called. So the only opportunity we’ll have to vote on the two-child limit will be on an SNP motion.
“I’ll be voting for the SNP amendment. I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party. So I’m putting lifting children out of poverty before party whipping or anything like that.”
Today is the last day of the debate on the King’s Speech & there will be a series of votes. I will vote today in support of the amendment calling for the scrapping of the iniquitous 2 child limit on benefits, which has caused such hardship. I explain why in this short video. pic.twitter.com/9hqcFPsjYz
— John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) July 23, 2024
Kim Johnson, Zarah Sultana and Rosie Duffield are also among the Labour MPs who have urged Sir Keir to change tack. There may also be a surprising vote for the amendment on the opposition benches. Conservative Suella Braverman spoke on Monday to support scrapping the limit.
While the government prepares for a meeting with the British Medical Association on junior doctors pay, Green party co-leader Adrian Ramsay met with Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association (BDA).
In their general election campaign, the Greens vowed to end Britain’s ‘dental deserts’ if elected by investing an additional £3bn in the dentistry budget by 2030 to ensure “everybody who needs an NHS dentist has access to one”.
In a post on X, the BDA said the Greens “showed leadership on NHS dentistry during the recent election. We’re ready to work with all parties to secure a better deal for our patients”.
The co-chairs of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, have arrived in Westminster at the Department of Health and Social Care ahead of formal pay negotiations for junior doctors.
They are due to meet with health secretary Wes Streeting who will open formal talks with junior doctors with a view to ending their long-running dispute with the government over pay.
The BMA has held 11 rounds of strike action in the past 20 months. They are seeking a 35% pay rise to restore a real-term fall in income since 2008.
On Thursday, Streeting said there meetings were “a crucial step forward, as we work to end this dispute and change the way junior doctors are treated in the NHS”.
Liz Kendall fails to say whether Foreign Office legal advice on whether Israel broke international law in Gaza will be published
Liz Kendall repeatedly failed to answer whether the government would publish legal advice from the Foreign Office on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.
When in opposition, David Lammy urged the then-foreign secretary David Cameron to publish the legal advice, fearing there was a risk that British arms were being used to carry out international war crimes. If the legal advice made that case, Lammy said all arms exports to Israel must be halted.
Lammy is now the foreign secretary but this legal advice from the Foreign Office has not yet been published. Arms exports to Israel have continued and no plans to publish the legal advice have been set out.
Kendall was asked three times on BBC’s Today programme whether the government would publish the legal advice. “David Lammy and Keir Starmer have been really clear about our approach on this,” she said.
She was interrupted and pressed again. She said: “We actually campaigned as a changed Labour party and we will deliver as a changed Labour government too. We want to see that immediate ceasefire. The only long term solution to the horror that we’re seeing in Gaza is to get that ceasefire and build towards a long-term two state solution. We are working extremely hard on this. David Lammy has already visited Israel. I know he’s in those long term discussions. Colleagues feel very passionately about that.
Asked one final time, she said: “We will be setting out more plans, I’m sure, in the weeks and months ahead. But what I would say to your listeners is we are determined to do everything we can as an international ally to get that immediate ceasefire. The urgent priority is to stop the fighting now, to get the hostages out, to get the aid in, and that’s what we’ll work to deliver.”
Liz Kendall says government needs to do ‘the sums’ before scrapping two-child benefit cap ahead of potential Commons rebellion
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has been on the media round this morning. After Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson suggested they would be open to axing the two-child benefit cap on Monday, Kendall has tempered these expectations, saying the government has to do “the sums” before committing to scrap the cap.
Her words come before a possible rebellion in the Commons for Starmer over the policy. A king’s speech debate could end with a vote on the matter on Tuesday evening if speaker Lindsay Hoyle selects one of several amendments that have been tabled.
Kendall said she is “absolutely passionate about driving down child poverty” and that it is a “real priority for this government”.
When pressed on whether that means abolishing the cap, she told Times Radio that Labour was elected “on the promise that we would only make spending commitments that we know we can keep”.
“I’m not into a wink and a nudge politics,” she said.
“I’m not going to look constituents in the face and tell them I’m going to do something without actually having done the sums, figuring out how I’m going to pay for it, figuring out how we transform opportunity for those children, not just in terms of their household income, which is essential, but about having sustained improvements to helping people get work and get on in work, more childcare, early years support, sorting out the dire state of people’s housing.
“It’s got to be part of a much bigger approach.”
She also stressed that the Labour government cannot tackle the “dire inheritance” from the Tories “overnight”, pointing to crises facing the health service, council budgets, housing and welfare.
On Monday, Phillipson said the newly elected Labour government would “consider” removing the cap “as one of a number of ways” of lifting children out of poverty. Shortly after, Starmer said he agrees with the education secretary’s comments but stopped short of repeating her point about scrapping the cap. A Downing Street spokesperson later denied the government’s position had changed.
Kendall’s words echo that made by chancellor Rachel Reeves on Sunday. She told the BBC she could not pledge to scrap the cap without saying where the £3bn annual cost “is going to come from”.
James Cleverly has warned Tory leadership rivals not to “divide up and factionalise”, responding to Suella Braverman words that the Tories must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.
Cleverly told Sky News: “Trying to carve up and divide up and factionalise … is the wrong way of thinking.”
Cleverly, who is considering a run for Tory leader, was asked whether he had the backing of 10 MPs needed to enter the first round of voting. He said: “I’ve had lots of very kind words from colleagues, both former colleagues and current colleagues.”
Other potential leadership contenders include shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, former home secretary Priti Patel, shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
The Conservative party will elect its new leader on 2 November. Nominations will open on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on 29 July.
Opening summary
Good morning, I’m Sammy Gecsoyler and I’ll be taking you through the latest developments at Westminster today.
After Mel Stride said he was considering a bid to become Tory leader on Tuesday, another senior figure has seemingly thrown their hat in the ring.
James Cleverly has hinted that he will join the contest ahead of nominations opening on Wednesday.
The shadow home secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Of course, I and a number of other people have thought about the future of our country, have thought about the contribution of the party and our personal contribution to those things.
“Of course, I don’t think I’m alone in having given that serious thought.
“I’ve always believed, to do the job that you’re meant to be doing when you’re meant to be doing it. And when I was in government I focused on delivering in government. Now I’m in opposition, my focus, particularly today, is to hold the Labour party to account.”