The Labour Government is facing calls to scrap the two child benefit cap in a bid to end the Tory legacy of child poverty, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament next week.

Socialist Campaign Group Labour MP John McDonnell has joined grassroots organisation Momentum in calling for the Labour Government to scrap the cap, which they say could be funded by a “modest” wealth tax.

The State Opening of Parliament takes place next Wednesday 17th July. Momentum has launched an e-lobbying tool, aimed at mobilising thousands of supporters and Labour voters to email their Labour MP or Keir Starmer in support of the campaign.

Keir Starmer has so far resisted this policy, despite concerted pressure from education unions, Labour MPs and child poverty campaigners. But pressure has been growing in recent months, with even hard-right Tory MP Suella Braverman backing the scrapping of the cap.

The latest Government figures show that 4.3 million children were living in relative poverty as of 2023. Experts say that scrapping the two-child benefit cap, introduced under the post-2015 Conservative Government, is the single most effective measure to tackle child poverty, alleviating poverty for over a million kids. Resolution Foundation analysis found that low-income families are losing around £3,200 a year for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017, with six in every ten affected families containing at least one adult in work.

Labour has so far rejected the policy as ‘uncosted’. The Resolution Foundation puts the cost of scrapping the two-child cap at £1.3bn, rising to £3.6bn in 2024-2025. This could easily be funded through a ‘modest’ wealth tax, raising £10bn, while equalising capital gains tax with income tax would raise £15bn a year.

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington and former Shadow Chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said: “Labour’s Manifesto committed our new government to implementing an anti-poverty strategy to tackle the scourge of poverty in our society. Scrapping the brutal two child cap could be a vitally important first step in this strategy and would send out a clear message about the priorities of this new administration.”

Sasha Das Gupta, newly-elected Co-Chair of Momentum, said: “Policies like scrapping the two-child benefit cap are popular and more urgent than ever. Labour cannot simply promise a ‘strategy’ on this – we need to scrap the cap and promote bold policies for all. That’s what real Labour values look like.”