Overview
- The government formally tabled legislation on Thursday to abolish the 2017 two‑child limit on child-related benefits.
- Ministers frame the policy as an investment in children’s life chances, with the cost put at about £3bn a year by the end of the Parliament.
- Reform UK confirmed its MPs will vote against the repeal, proposing instead a narrow version limited to “working British” couples that Labour estimates would help about 3,700 children.
- Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says her party would restore the cap in full, and Labour warns such a reversal would push roughly 470,000 children back into poverty.
- Labour highlighted regional impacts, saying 18,410 families in the North East would benefit, covering about 67,580 children.