'I deliver emergency food parcels and have seen the look in parents' eyes'

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Labour MP Chris Webb has said he has had parents break down in tears to him over being unable to feed their kids as he called for the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped
The Labour MP for Blackpool South has said he has had parents break down in tears to him over being unable to feed their kids as he called for the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped.
Chris Webb has ramped up the pressure on Keir Starmer after official stats this week showed nearly 1.7million kids are affected by the Tory-era policy. He said families in his area are skipping meals, kids are missing school and children are growing up in temporary accommodation and 'overcrowded, damp and unsafe houses'.
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'The very basics – school shoes, formula milk, heating – are now luxuries many can't afford,' he said. 'I delivered emergency food parcels for families in crisis and still do. I've looked parents in the eye as they broke down in tears, ashamed they couldn't feed their children.
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'And I've seen the demand spiral beyond anything we ever imagined. Food banks were meant to be a stopgap – they've become a lifeline.'
Mr Webb called for the removal of the two-child benefit limit, which he described as 'a policy that has punished parents for the size of their family.'
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He praised the Government's expansion of free school meals to all children whose families are in receipt of Universal Credit. But he urged it to consider extending it to all children, saying 'universal provision would ensure no child goes hungry during the school day'.
The Mirror is campaigning for all primary school children in England to have access to free school meals.
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Elsewhere Mr Webb urged ministers to be ambitious in its child poverty strategy, which is due to be published in autumn. 'We cannot afford another strategy that tinkers at the edges or repackages old ideas,' he said.
Many Labour MPs oppose the two-child limit, which could become a new focal point for tensions between backbenchers and Downing Street. The policy, introduced in 2017, restricts claims for Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit to the first two children.
On Thursday, DWP figures showed 1,665,540 children living in the households in England, Wales and Scotland were affected by the limit in April 2025, an increase of almost 40,000 - 37,150 - compared to the same time last year.
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Children's charities say the policy pushes 109 children across the UK into poverty every day. Ditching the police would lift 350,000 children out of poverty and mean 700,000 children are in less deep poverty, according to estimates from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson last weekend(SUN) said axing the two-child benefit is still on the table, with the Government's child poverty strategy looking at 'every lever' to lift children out of hardship.
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But she admitted removing the policy would be harder to do after a major climbdown on the Government's welfare cuts, which has left a £5billion hole in Rachel Reeves's spending plans.
Ms Phillipson said: "The decisions that have been taken in the last week do make decisions, future decisions harder. But all of that said, we will look at this collectively in terms of all of the ways that we can lift children out of poverty."
A Government spokesman said: 'Children in Blackpool and across the UK should have the best start in life. The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year to ensure we deliver fully funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the country.'
They pointed to action to roll out a national network of family hubs for children across the country as well as expanding free school meals and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.