No child should go hungry in one of the richest countries in the world – that’s the message from Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan, who is calling for higher
taxes on the wealthiest to help tackle child poverty.
Morgan has written the foreword to a new Labour publication on child poverty, echoing calls from Social Justice Secretary Jane Hutt to scrap the controversial “two-child cap” on some benefits. The policy, introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, restricts support to the first two children in a family. Critics say it has pushed hundreds of thousands of children into hardship.
Both Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer have faced growing pressure to ditch the cap. The issue is expected to be a major flashpoint at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool.
Hutt echoed the sentiment, calling the two-child cap “deeply unfair” and urging the UK government to commit to scrapping it. She argued that lifting the cap would immediately lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.
But there’s a price tag. Ending the cap would cost around £3bn. Some campaigners have suggested funding it through new levies on the gambling industry or a broader wealth tax – ideas backed by senior Labour figures including former leaders Gordon Brown and Neil Kinnock.
Not everyone agrees. The Welsh Conservatives argue that scrapping the policy would burden taxpayers, while Plaid Cymru has accused Morgan of political opportunism.
In defence, the First Minister pointed to Welsh Government programmes already in place: universal free primary school meals, Flying Start childcare for toddlers, and a basic income pilot for care leavers. However, critics say previous pledges – like the abandoned 2020 child poverty target – show the government has not gone far enough.
The new Labour document, ‘Labour Works: Local Action on Child Poverty’, gathers contributions from across the party, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. It was released ahead of the Labour conference, as the party faces growing competition in Wales from Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.
The UK government’s own Child Poverty Review is due in the coming weeks, with ministers under pressure to prove progress before the next general election. Photo by Matthew Horwood/Welsh Government; Crown Copyright, Wikimedia commons.