Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Luke Myer has welcomed the Chancellor’s decision to abolish the two-child benefit limit.
The policy shift will have a major impact on Teesside. Around 2,400 children in Luke’s constituency are currently affected by the cap, and over 20,000 across the wider Tees Valley. Nationally, ending the policy will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to 550,000 when combined with other measures such as expanded free school meals.
Luke has long argued for this reform. Before becoming an MP he worked on child poverty at the Institute for Public Policy Research, and as a councillor delivered Redcar & Cleveland’s Child Poverty Strategy. In Parliament he has repeatedly called for the two-child limit to be scrapped and supported fairer gambling taxes to help fund action to tackle child poverty.
Luke Myer MP said:
“Scrapping the two-child limit is the right and fair thing to do. No child on Teesside should be pushed into poverty by a policy that punishes larger families. This change will transform lives and give families the support they deserve.”
The Child Poverty Action Group described the decision as “transformational”, while Barnardo’s hailed a “landmark moment” which “could transform life chances for a generation of children”.
The Budget also included a series of steps to help with the cost of living and improve public services, including:
- Cutting energy bills by removing outdated energy levies, saving households £150 next year.
- Raising the national minimum wage and national living wage, giving hundreds of thousands of workers an average £900 pay boost.
- Opening 250 new Neighbourhood Health Centres to cut NHS waiting lists and help people access care closer to home.
Treasury analysis shows that low-income households will benefit the most from policy decisions taken since Autumn Budget 2024, with tax rises concentrated on the highest-income households.
