Keir Starmer grilled by MPs over two-child cap and private school VAT at first PMQs

Keir Starmer faced questions on his refusal to end the two-child benefit cap and the impact his private school VAT policy could have in Scotland as he answered his first PMQs since the election.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn joined his colleague Pete Wishart to grill the new Prime Minister over the welfare policy.

On Tuesday, the Labour leader suspended seven MPs after they backed the SNP’s motion to end the cap, which was introduced by the Tories.

In what was an otherwise calm PMQs, Flynn pointed to former prime minister Gordon Brown’s call for Scottish voters to vote Labour to end child poverty ahead of the General Election.

“Yet, last night, Labour MPs from Scotland were instructed to retain the two-child cap which forces children into poverty,” he said.

At one point, MPs laughed at Flynn after he welcomed Labour “ending Tory rule” after the election, which also saw the party take dozens of SNP seats.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn quizzed the Prime Minister on the two-child benefit cap. STV News

The SNP Westminster leader joked the Tories were now “too close for comfort” in the House of Commons.

Responding to Flynn, Starmer said: “The last Labour government lifted millions of children out of poverty, something we are very, very proud of.

“And this government will approach the question with the same vigour with our new task force. Already we’ve taken steps: breakfast clubs; abolishing no-fault evictions; decent homes standard; Awaab’s Law; and a plan to make work pay.”

Starmer said “before he lectures anyone else” the SNP should explain why 30,000 more children in Scotland are in poverty since it rose to power in 2007.

Starmer’s response was interrupted by the Speaker telling Flynn off after the Aberdeen South MP had apparently held a newspaper front page showing former PM Brown’s stance against the two-child cap.

The measure, introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, restricts in and out-of-work welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.

Wishart, the SNP’s longest-serving MP also brought up the cap, saying Labour’s “honeymoon” was over before it had even begun.

He said: “In less than three weeks, he has had a significant rebellion and he has suspended seven of his Members of Parliament, all for standing up for child poverty, this from a Labour Government.

“The headlines are awful for the Prime Minister this morning, poverty campaigners are furious with the Prime Minister, is his honeymoon over before it’s even begun?”

Keir Starmer said the SNP had presided over a rise in child poverty in Scotland. iStock

Starmer replied that he would not be taking “lectures” from the SNP on what the people of Scotland want after the party returned from the General Election with a “handful” of members

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine warned Starmer that Labour’s policy to impose VAT on private schools could lead to pupils joining the state sector.

She said a report by Edinburgh Council showed the city had no more space for pupils.

Education is devolved to Scotland but VAT is controlled by Westminster.

The Prime Minister said he understood parents’ aspiration to send their kids to private school but said every parent had aspirations for their child.

He said he was determined that the right teachers would be in place in schools across the UK.