Share this post:

For once, Neil Kinnock is making sense.

The former Labour leader has urged Keir Starmer’s government to scrap the two-child benefit cap – the cruellest welfare cut of the Tory austerity years – and fund it with a wealth tax on the top one per cent.

He even admitted it might sound like “the economics of Robin Hood,” before pointing out the obvious: there’s nothing wrong with taking from those who have too much to ensure children don’t go hungry.

He’s not alone. Gordon Brown has already called for an end to both the benefit cap and the two-child limit, arguing that doing so would be the most effective single step to slash child poverty.

Campaigners say scrapping the policy would lift 350,000 children out of poverty instantly – and Kinnock’s figure is even higher at 600,000.

So why is Labour still clinging to Tory cruelty?

The excuse is always the same: “no money.”

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, recently claimed welfare reforms had made spending “harder.” Starmer bangs on about “fiscal responsibility.” The message is clear – the kids can wait.

But the truth is different. There is money – lots of it. It’s just being hoarded at the top while children sleep in mouldy bedrooms and go to school hungry.

Where Labour could find the cash

1. Wealth tax on the super-rich

   • Taxing the wealth (not just income) of the richest 1% could raise tens of billions annually. A modest levy on assets above £10m would more than cover scrapping the two-child cap several times over.

2. Clamp down on tax dodging

   • HMRC estimates the “tax gap” – money lost through avoidance and evasion – at around £35bn a year. Independent analysts say the real figure is far higher. Enforce it, collect it, fund child welfare with it.

3. Windfall taxes on excess profits

   • Energy giants, supermarkets and banks have all reported obscene profits while families starve. A permanent windfall tax on sectors gouging customers could redirect billions into public services and benefits.

4. Scrap ineffective subsidies

   • Billions are spent propping up private contractors in areas like health, transport, and housing benefit (landlord subsidies). Cut corporate welfare, fund actual welfare.

5. End the privatisation gravy train

   • Renationalising energy, water, and transport would eventually free up public money now being siphoned off as shareholder dividends – money that could end child poverty instead of fattening FTSE portfolios.

The real problem

Labour doesn’t lack the money. It lacks the will.

Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have chosen to box themselves into Tory fiscal rules – rules designed to protect the rich and punish the poor.

They would rather preserve “credibility” with markets than credibility with families living in poverty.

Neil Kinnock might not always have been the left’s favourite champion, but on this, he’s right: the Dickensian levels of poverty shaming Britain today can’t be fixed with breakfast clubs and sticking plasters.

They demand radical redistribution.

So the question is simple: will Labour take the money from those who have it, or will it keep taking it from the children who don’t?

Share this post: