Ministers hint two-child benefits cap could be axed once the government has 'done the sums' as Keir Starmer desperately tries to quell first revolt by Labour MPs TODAY

Ministers have hinted that the two-child benefits cap could be axed soon as Keir Starmer faces his first Labour rebellion.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall insisted the government must 'do the sums' before confirming that the policy will be ditched.

The PM has been desperately trying to fend off growing anger on his own benches about his refusal to drop the restrictions on handouts for families. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is adamant that the public finances must be stabilised before making a commitment.

An amendment to the King's Speech will force the issue to a vote this evening, although with Labour's huge 180-strong working majority there is no real prospect of defeat.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has also chosen the wording proposed by the SNP, which could mean Labour MPs are less willing to support it. And he has not chosen any amendments pushing for a harder UK line against Israel.  

On a round of interviews this morning, Ms Kendall warned that things could not be changed 'overnight'.

She told Times Radio: 'We were elected on the promise that we would only make spending commitments that we know we can keep and we are facing a dire inheritance from the Tories.

'I'm not into a wink and a nudge politics.

'I'm not going to look constituents in the face and tell them I'm going to do something without actually having done the sums figuring out how I'm going to pay for it, figuring out how we transform opportunity for those children, not just in terms of their household income, which is essential, but about having sustained improvements to helping people get work and get on in work, more childcare, early years support, sorting out the dire state of people's housing.

'It's got to be part of a much bigger approach.'

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said yesterday that the Government would look at lifting the cap as 'one of a number of levers' to tackle child poverty.

But she warned it would be 'very expensive' to reverse the policy as Labour battle with 'really tough' public finances.

A group of around 20 Labour backbenchers have already pledged to support an amendment to the King's Speech demanding the Government 'abolish' the cap.

The two-child benefit cap, introduced by ex-chancellor George Osborne, prevents parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third or additional child born after April 2017.

Before becoming PM, Sir Keir said he would ditch the two-child limit 'in an ideal world' but added that 'we haven't got the resources to do it at the moment'.

The Resolution Foundation has calculated that abolishing the two-child limit would cost the Government somewhere between £2.5billion and £3.6billion in 2024/25 but said such costs are 'low compared to the harm that the policy causes'.

Recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showed there were around 440,000 households in receipt of either universal credit or child tax credit who were not receiving the child element or amount for at least one child because of the policy, up from 409,050 as of April 2023.

Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, has tabled an amendment to the King's Speech demanding Sir Keir 'abolish the two-child cap on benefits'.

The Government has launched a ministerial taskforce to begin work on the child poverty strategy.

Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow yesterday, Sir Keir said Labour's child poverty strategy would 'cover all the bases'.

'The last Labour government did a huge amount of work on this with a very good strategy. I intend that we will do the same with the same commitment and passion,' he said.

He added there was 'no silver bullet' to tackle child poverty but said 'it's good that we're having a debate about it'.

'I'm not surprised that there's a real passion about this in the Labour Party, you'd expect there to be,' the PM said.