Labour has reversed its plan to restrict Winter Fuel Payments — a move that, while politically safe, reveals deeper moral and strategic failures.

At the same time, fresh analysis from the Resolution Foundation projects a disturbing rise in child poverty across this Parliament, driven largely by policies like the two-child benefit cap, which Labour refuses to scrap.

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By 2029-30, child poverty is expected to rise by more than two percentage points, widening a gap that already sees children twice as likely to live in poverty as pensioners.

Meanwhile, pensioner poverty — already the lowest — is projected to fall further.

So why funnel limited resources to a group already better protected?

The answer may be as simple as it is cynical: pensioners vote.

Children don’t.

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This is the welfare trilemma in action — the difficult balance between universality, targeting, and affordability.

But Labour has made its choice.

In a moment where courage is needed to stand up for the voiceless, the party has instead followed the votes.

If Labour is serious about “ensuring public money is focused on those with the greatest need,” as Liz Kendall claimed this week, it must prove it.

That means rethinking policies that punish children for the circumstances of their birth — not doubling down on giveaways to groups with electoral clout.

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