Gloucester’s MP has praised the Chancellor’s Budget after new measures were announced that will lift an estimated 3,000 children in the city out of poverty from April next year.
Responding to the statement, the Labour MP said tackling child poverty was a driving force behind entering politics and called the change “the right thing to do”.
“I cannot think of a more vulnerable group of people than children living in poverty,” they said. “They have not chosen their circumstances. But we do have control over whether we take action to lift more than 450,000 children across the country out of poverty. Today the Labour government made that choice.”
The MP acknowledged that some families may question the decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap, particularly those who limited the size of their family for financial reasons. But they argued that the majority of families affected are already working.
“What I would say is that 59% of families who will benefit have at least one parent in work,” they said. “There’s no evidence the policy has reduced family sizes since 2017, and the welfare bill has only gone up. We must not punish children for the circumstances of their upbringing.”
They added that the Budget included broader support for households, with measures to reduce energy bills, increases to the minimum and living wages, frozen prescription charges and rail fares, and an extended cap on fuel duty.
“These measures are a start and they will make a real difference,” the MP said. “The solution to a broken welfare system isn’t to punish vulnerable children. I’m proud that today the Labour government has taken direct action to lift 3,000 children here in Gloucester out of poverty.”
They said more work was needed to help people back into employment and strengthen support for all families, but described the Budget as a significant step forward.
Anti-poverty groups have welcomed the move, but Conservatives say Labour is hiking taxes to pay for it.