Dundee SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick is daring his likely Labour challenger Michael Marra to vote against his party’s budget proposal to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Dundee City West MSP Joe Fitzpatrick told Scottish Labour to “find a backbone” and support the budget with the two-child cap measure.
The proposal unveiled in Wednesday’s Scottish Government budget would remove the benefits cap which critics say is the biggest single driver of child poverty.
It limits the amount of child benefit parents can receive after their second child by more than £3,000 a year and is intended to encourage them to find work.
Two-child cap impacts 11% of children in Dundee
Around 11% of children in Dundee are impacted by the benefit rule, and the SNP budget says it hopes to scrap it in Scotland by 2026.
Labour had committed to scrapping the Conservative-era benefit rule if elected to government but Sir Keir Starmer U-turned.
Research by the Child Poverty Action Group suggests mitigating the cap would lift around 15,000 children in Scotland out of poverty.
And senior SNP figures say that if their budget is voted down at Holyrood and an early election is called, they will use the two-child cap as a relentless campaign tool against Scottish Labour.
One senior SNP figure said the nationalists would expect to be “rampant” in any early election against Labour.
Labour MSPs had been hoping they had neutralised any potential “rabbit in the hat” during the budget when they pre-empted the Scottish Government’s plan to reverse the universal winter fuel payment cut.
They called for the devolved universal benefit to be re-instated even though the decision had been taken after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced means-testing.
But the commitment to scrapping the two-child cap by 2026 has opened up a clear gulf on the left between the SNP and Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour.
And nowhere is that more likely to be true than in Dundee, where Labour’s shadow finance spokesman and current North East MSP Michael Marra is likely to stand for Holyrood.
Mr FitzPatrick said figures like Mr Marra had been “complicit” through their failure to call out Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and campaign for the Labour government to scrap the cap.
Not too late for Labour to find ‘backbone’ over budget
He said: “The consequence of Labour’s inaction is that around 3,000 children in Dundee are suffering the effects of their heinous policy.
“It’s not too late for Labour in Scotland to find their backbone and support the SNP’s action to rid Scotland of one of the worst policies to ever be imposed on us by Westminster.
“Surely Labour cannot vote against a budget that will lift children in Dundee out of poverty?”
Labour budget opposition
Mr Marra has already signalled opposition. Speaking as shadow finance spokesman, he said the budget was “more of the same”.
Asked about Mr FitzPatrick’s comments he said: “There is not a penny in the budget for this policy to help kids living in poverty in Dundee.
“This is not a budget measure, it is a policy aspiration. Scottish Labour will work constructively around any proposals to reduce child poverty.
“For years, the Scottish Government claimed it was impossible for them to act on the two-child cap.
“Yesterday’s announcement shows that they were not being honest with the public – progress could have been made years ago if the SNP actually wanted to help kids in poverty.”
Mr Marra said the UK Government would reduce child poverty as it’s “what Labour governments have always done”.
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