Two-child limit

Ten union general secretaries have called on prime minister Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit limit, which affects 1.6 million children and leaves 300,000 living in poverty as a result.

They are urging the government to “rethink its defence” of the limit and its decision to suspend seven Labour MPs who voted for an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the cap to be scrapped.

The union leaders are calling on the government to scrap the limit in the Autumn Statement and pay for it by introducing tax on unearned income.