Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-commercial use

At least 1.5 million children are living in poverty because of the Tories’ two-child benefit cap – many of them going hungry – damaging their health, their education and their chances throughout their entire life and leaving them stigmatised and traumatised.

Keir Starmer has previously caused outrage by refusing to commit to ending the cap if Labour gets into government. But this morning on the BBC he went a step further and confirmed that he will not end the cap:

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On everything else the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg asked him, Starmer refused to answer one way or the other, using the excuse that he’s ‘not going to write our manifesto here’.

But lifting at least 250,000 kids out of poverty and giving another 1.25 million a massive leg-up to being out of poverty that they are suffering through no fault of their own?

No – on that, Starmer was more than happy to ‘write the manifesto here’, confirming that Labour has no interest in those children or their 400,000 families, most of them working, let alone their relatives who will be equally horrified. Presumably, he thinks poor people don’t vote – or that he doesn’t need them if he can suck up to enough Tories and big business.

A Starmer win means another five years of Tory government, just as much as would a win for the blue version.

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-commercial use