Deputy leadership hopeful Lucy Powell said Gordon Brown’s proposal to hike gambling tax to fund axing the two-child benefit limit should get ‘careful consideration’
Labour should consider hiking taxes on gambling giants to raise cash to fund the fight against child poverty, Lucy Powell has suggested.
Writing for The Mirror, the deputy leadership hopeful praised the government for showing ” Labour values in action” with the introduction of free school breakfast clubs. But the Manchester Central MP, who is vying against Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson to replace Angela Rayner, also piled pressure on ministers to axe the two-child benefit limit.
The Tory-era austerity policy restricts Universal Credit to the first two children and has been repeatedly blamed for trapping hundreds of thousands of kids in poverty.
Ms Powell raised the proposal put forward by the ex-Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has repeatedly urged the government to act on the issue. In the summer he cited research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showing a shake-up to gambling levies could raise £3.2billion and fund scrapping the two-child benefit limit.
Ms Powell said: “It’s the Chancellor and the Prime Minister who write the Budget, that’s not the Deputy Leader’s job, but I want us to be clear that our objective is to lift children out of poverty and that will mean we need to lift the cap.
“Gordon Brown has set out ways of raising money from gambling firms which should get careful consideration. We all want to change the country in the interests of the many, not just the few. Let’s stand proudly for that.”
The former Commons leader also insisted the party must “give a greater sense of who we’re fighting for”. She added: “I won’t snipe from the sidelines, but I’m not afraid to have difficult conversations when we need to change course.”
“For example, we should be really clear on our mission to tackle child poverty. That means setting out a much stronger sense that we support the policies and principles which we know can do that, like lifting the two-child benefits cap. Free school meals and breakfast clubs we proudly introduced will transform lives and show Labour values in action.”
Her rival Ms Phillipson, who is leading the government’s child poverty taskforce and is viewed as No10 preference for the vacant deputy leader role, also labelled the two-child benefit limit as “spiteful”.
In the clearest sign yet Downing Street is willing to move on the issue, she insisted on Friday “everything is on the table” as part of the taskforce, “including removing the two-child limit”.
She added: “My top priority will be for this Labour Government to tackle child poverty. And as deputy leader – with a seat at the Cabinet table – that’s what I will be fighting for day in, day out. Be in no doubt: we won’t achieve our party’s historic mission by shouting from the sidelines. It won’t happen unless there is someone driving that mission forward in government, with the clout – and the mandate – to make it happen.”
The Education Secretary’s comments came after Ms Powell used an interview to say the Government must be “clearer” about wanting to axe the two-child limit in its upcoming child poverty strategy. One Labour MP backing the former Commons leader said: “Looks like Lucy’s intervention already shifting the dial.”
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