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So much for the “change” we were promised.

More than a year since Labour swept into Downing Street on promises of “change,” one thing is crystal clear: for Britain’s poorest families, nothing has changed at all.

This week, the Children’s Commissioner for England released a devastating report that should shame everybody in power.

It reveals that children across the country are now living in conditions described as “almost-Dickensian”. Not metaphorically—literally.

Think black mould in bedrooms. Rats in kitchens. No heating. No food. No privacy. Children sleeping three to a bed, skipping meals, and calling bacon a “luxury.”

This is the United Kingdom in 2025. Not the 19th century. Not some dystopian novel. Real lives. Real kids. Real poverty.

The scale of the crisis is jaw-dropping. A record 4.45 million children are now living in poverty across the UK. But it’s the cause—and Labour’s refusal to fix it—that’s the real scandal.

The two-child benefit cap: still here, still harming

At the centre of this crisis is a single, cruel policy: the two-child benefit cap, imposed by the Conservatives in 2017 and left firmly in place by Labour in 2024, despite widespread condemnation from experts, charities, and even Labour’s own backbenchers.

The rule prevents families from claiming support through Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit for any child after the second. No matter the circumstances. No matter the hardship.

The impact? 350,000 children could be lifted out of poverty overnight if the cap were scrapped. Instead, the government allows 109 more children to be pushed into poverty every single day it remains in force.

It’s a policy that punishes children for existing—and one that Labour has had more than a year to scrap, but hasn’t.

Labour’s excuses are wearing thin

In a BBC interview last week, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson dodged questions about removing the cap, saying recent welfare decisions have made spending “harder.”

This is the same Labour government that has:

• Taken pride in prioritising “fiscal discipline” over moral duty.

• Failed on major welfare reforms, preferring to inflict cuts rather than offer aid.

• Dodged any serious commitment to redistribution or systemic change.

If it won’t act now—with a majority in Parliament and a public desperate for change—when will it?

Let’s be blunt: keeping the two-child limit is not a necessity. It’s a choice. A choice to balance the books on the backs of poor children. A choice that says some kids simply don’t count—especially if they’re born into families the government deems “too large” or “undeserving.”

“They talk about rats.”

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, put it best: these children don’t talk about “poverty” as an abstract concept. They talk about the cold, about the mould, about their parents crying, about not having anywhere to do homework, or even a private place to wash.

This is not about politics anymore. It’s about basic dignity, humanity, and whether we allow an entire generation to grow up in shame and squalor because neither the Conservatives nor Labour have the backbone to do the right thing.

Yes, Labour has introduced a crisis fund and expanded free breakfast clubs—but those measures barely scratch the surface. They are firefighting, not fixing.

A real child poverty strategy would start by scrapping the two-child cap. Instead, Labour is “reviewing” it—while the suffering continues.

How “change” really looks

Labour didn’t campaign to prolong the Tory war on welfare. Its candidates campaigned on fairness. On compassion. On rebuilding broken Britain.

Yet more than a year into Starmer’s government, child poverty is worse than ever, and one of the most vicious austerity policies of the last decade is still standing.

If Labour won’t scrap the two-child limit, then let’s stop pretending we’re living through an era of change.

For millions of kids, it’s the same old story: ignored, punished, forgotten.

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