Joe Woolfall, Liverpool South Socialist Party
Despite rumours that Labour was considering lifting the two-child benefit cap (the Tory-imposed cap which prevents parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for more than two children), reports are now claiming these plans are ‘dead’. This is seen as the ‘price’ for the concessions on welfare benefit cuts as Rachel Reeves would feel compelled to make deeper cuts elsewhere to afford the £3.4 billion a year it would cost to scrap the cap and keep ‘the markets’ on side.
Child poverty is a massive issue now, and scrapping the two-child benefit cap would instantly lift 250,000 children out of poverty. A government which stood up for the working class and the poorest in our society would see the reversal of this cruel Tory legislation as a no-brainer. For Starmer and co, voting to scrap the cap was enough to kick MPs out of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
But we have seen how quickly money becomes available when Trump demanded Starmer and other European leaders raise ‘defence’ spending. The priorities of the pro-capitalist Labour government are made clear: more money for war but not for ending child poverty. Reeves and Starmer refuse to take the wealth off the super rich to help people shows that they stand for the bosses.
The government claims that, with the recent U-turn on PIP and other welfare benefits for disabled people, they cannot afford to help children out of poverty. But the external pressure from disability campaigners, trade unionists and others, forced the government to partially reverse their vicious austerity plans. In truth, the revolt of Labour politicians was primarily because of the pressure exerted on them by their constituents.
The welfare cuts debacle shows how weak the Labour government really is. Campaigners, along with the trade union movement, could force more concessions. The recent announcement by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn of a new party is a step forward. Imagine if the workers’ movement had MPs that could express our demands in parliament and push for struggle for decent pay, decent benefits and trade union rights. The pressure is on Labour now, it will only increase if the crisis of working-class political representation is addressed with a new mass party that can democratically represent us.
