Good Morning Britain host Rob Rinder became embroiled in a heated discussion with a Labour MP over fears the government is considering scrapping the two-child benefit cap. During Friday’s visit (May 30) to the ITV studios, the 46-year-old broadcaster returned to the airwaves alongside his co-host Ranvir Singh as they delivered the biggest stories hitting the headlines.
One of the biggest stories worrying parents up and down the country is the potential axe of the benefits cap which will leave thoudans of families struggling to make ends meat all over the UK. The policy has caused considerable consternation within the Labour Party, with a growing number of MPs calling to scrap it and ministers so far reusing to. But now, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has given the givernment’s strongest hint yet that it may be cut after she revealed that ministers are “considering” lifting it.
To get some answers on the debate, Rob welcomed the school standards minister, Catherine McKinnell, onto the show where he probed the politician about the controversial deicsion.
He asked her: “Isn’t it time that the Labour government said, ‘Right, it’s time to scrap this’. Why are you allowing Nigel Farage to win on that ground?”
She replied: “So to be really clear about the schools and the capital funding and the NHS, this is right across the board is the challenges within the estate.” As the politician started to discuss a different topic, Rob immediately shut her down as he shared his frustration with her question dodging on the show.
He fumed: “So sorry, excuse me, our viewers deserve an answer. I mean I keep asking you a straight forward question, is there enough money? And I frankly don’t understand the answer because there’s lots of words but no specifics.
“We asked for a guarantee, you don’t give a guarantee, and this is a very straightforward policy: Is it time that you scrap the two-child cap?
“That’s what Reform UK has done, and you don’t give a straightforward answer and I wonder if you might agree or a politician knocking on people’s doors, that’s the reason why Reform UK is winning so much ground against you.”
She replied: “I will get to your question. I am happy to answer your question, I was just clarifying that actually, there were schools that were rebuilt under the last government that are already crumbling.
“This is why we are taking the time to do this properly and are investing right across the board to make sure we have schools and an NHS capital infrastructure that really does deliver that plan for change that we have for Britain.
“That plan for change involves making sure we have sustainable finances that we can then grow the economy from and make sure that we do invest in our public services but also in our children and families.
“We’re not waiting, to be honest. We do have the child poverty task force that is going to report on all of the measures that we want to see put in place to really change the lives of children.”
At the interview he interrupted her after asking several times for a straight answer, and simply concluded the discusion saying: “Excuse me, our viewers can be the jury on whether you answered the question.
“We hear what you’re say and you’ve got a child poverty task force except you didn’t answer the question on whether Labour are going to scrap the cap. But we’ll watch this space, perhaps you will in due course.”
Since 2017, parents have only been able to claim child tax credit and universal credit for their first two children, if they were born after April 2017. An exception is made for children born as a result of rape.
Government figures show one in nine children are impacted by the two-child limit. In the first three months Labour were in power, 10,000 children were pulled into poverty by the cap, the Child Poverty Action Ground found. The Resolution Foundation said the cap would increase the number of children in poverty to 4.8million by the next election in 119-2030.
Good Morning Britain airs on weekdays from 6am on ITV1 or catch up on ITVX.