Scrapping two-child benefit cap is a 'policy without a penny', says Anas Sarwar

Anas Sarwar has said the Scottish Government’s plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap is a “policy without a penny” following Wednesday’s Budget.

The Scottish Labour leader said his party would work “constructively and in good faith” with ministers if they are “serious” about lifting the policy,

Labour faced pressure following the party’s victory in the UK general election earlier this year to scrap the cap, which prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children.

The Scottish Government pledged to scrap the policy north of the border by 2026 amid a Budget “filled with hope for Scotland’s future” according to finance secretary Shona Robison.

However Sarwar said the proposals to ditch the cap should be separated from the overall Budget, which he described as a “squandered opportunity” amid a record settlement for Scotland from the UK Government.

He told STV News: “Lets be clear this is a policy without a penny at the moment, and we should actually separate it from the Budget.

“We will work constructively and in good faith with the Scottish Government if they are serious about lifting the two-child benefit cap, the UK Labour Government will do likewise but we should separate that from a Budget which is actually squandering the opportunity of our record settlement for Scotland to take our public services in a new direction.

“A new direction for our NHS, a new direction for our skills system or our education system, all of which is being missed by the SNP government which is focused on inputs and not positive outcomes for our country.”

He added: “In this moment in time it is a budget that thinks it can do more of the same, spend more money on what the SNP have been doing before and somehow just hoping for a different outcome. That’s not the evidence of the last 17 years, we needed a game-changing budget and a game-changing approach in this SNP government and redirection and sadly that’s not what we’ve got.”