The two-child benefit cap row is Starmer’s first big test

Can Keir Starmer hold the line on backing the two-child benefit cap? The row about the policy, introduced by the Conservatives and vociferously opposed by most people in the Labour party, is going to be a significant problem for the Prime Minister, even in his honeymoon period. The King’s Speech this week is unlikely to contain a surprise commitment to scrapping the policy, with Starmer and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves still saying that it is not yet affordable. Both say they want to get rid of it when the public finances allow, but that is not good enough for many of their MPs. 

There has already been pressure on Labour backbenchers from the SNP, which had been threatening an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the cap to be scrapped. But now Labour backbencher Kim Johnson says she is planning to table her own amendment, and has also circulated an early-day motion around colleagues asking for their support.