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Heidi Alexander: ‘Tackling child poverty is in the DNA of the Labour Party’

The expectation is that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ upcoming budget will lift the two child benefit cap. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg suggested that Labour have been giving mixed messages, with the chancellor saying she was determined to get welfare spending under control. Alexander said that growing up in poverty creates a ‘lifetime of consequences’, and three quarters of children in poverty are in households where both parents work. The transport secretary said she was confident that there would be fewer children in poverty at the end of Labour’s term. However, when pushed to confirm that the two child cap would be removed, Alexander said she couldn’t ‘get ahead of the budget’.

Ukrainian MP Kira Rudi