Sir Keir Starmer has avoided committing to considering scrapping the two-child benefit cap as he said there is “no silver bullet” to solving child poverty.
A growing number of Labour MPs have been putting pressure on the prime minister to remove the cap introduced by the Conservative government which means families can only claim child tax credits or Universal Credit for their first two children.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky News on Monday the government was “considering” removing the cap, although she said it was a “very expensive measure”.
However, asked if his government would consider removing the cap, Sir Keir would not say.
“In relation to poverty, what the education secretary said this morning, I agree with what she said,” he said at a news conference at Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire.
“She’s passionate about tackling poverty. And child poverty in particular.”
Pushed on whether he would look at removing the cap, he said the passion within the Labour Party to eradicate child poverty is why he has set up a taskforce, headed up by Ms Phillipson, to tackle the issue.
“There is no silver bullet. It was a silver bullet. It had been shot a very long time ago,” the PM said.
“It’s a complicated set of factors that I know, and I can see every day in my own constituency, to do with pay, to do with benefits, to do with work, to do with housing, to do with education, to do with health.
“And that is why you need a strategy to deal with it, which is why we set up a very strongly chaired body to drive forward that work.”