Welfare Spending

Steve Darling Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

Children are 20% of our population in the United Kingdom but 100% of our future, and it is shocking that almost a third of those children are growing up in poverty. That is why the Liberal Democrats believe the two-child limit should be lifted, as well as the benefit cap.

There are 4.5 million children living in poverty in the United Kingdom. That is almost a million and a half more than the population of Wales, which is shocking in the 21st century. Some 44% of children live in a family where someone has a disability, which relates back to the conversations we have had about universal credit and PIP in recent weeks. The figure I have is slightly different from that of the hon. Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh): 72% of children living in poverty live in a family where an individual is in work—people are in work, and yet their children are in poverty.

I reflect on a visit I made to a primary school in Paignton in the winter, where the headteacher said, “We have children who are coming into school cold, hungry and tired.” The impact of this on children is shocking. I represent the most deprived constituency that has a Liberal Democrat MP. The fact of the matter is that children do not choose to be born into large families, so having a benefits system that punishes those children is perverse in the extreme. This has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis. Whether it is skyrocketing rents or utility bills, those are all significant challenges that have an impact on these youngsters.

The shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately), said that people have choices. What about a couple who choose to have three or four children, and everything is going well, but suddenly one of them is in an accident or contracts a significant disease that debilitates them, and their partner has to give up work to look after them and the rest of the family? That is not a choice; it is a sad circumstance for that family. We as a society need to make sure that the safety net is there to support them.

The Liberal Democrats have made a manifesto commitment to lift the two-child limit and the benefit cap, and it is not just us who believe this is the right way forward. The big four children’s charities believe this is the best, most cost-effective way to tackle child poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation—a much loved organisation of mine—also believes this is the best way to tackle child poverty.

Childhood is a very short period of our lives. It is sad that the child poverty strategy has been delayed, but I hope it will emerge in the autumn. When I was the leader of Torbay council, we turned round children’s services from failing to good within two years. Part of that was ensuring that we used the whole of our orchestra of Torbay to support children: the Government’s biggest instrument is lifting the two-child limit and the benefit cap, because we desperately need to lift these children out of poverty.