UK
Union Leaders Demand Starmer Reinstates Suspended MPs
By Taj Ali, Tribune Magazine
Ten trade union general secretaries have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling for the scrapping of the two-child limit on benefits and the ‘immediate reinstatement’ of the seven MPs suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after voting against the two-child limit on benefits on Tuesday evening.
The intervention from trade union leaders reflects the wider discontent in the Labour Party and its affiliated trade unions at the government’s defence of the two-child limit and its decision to punish and exclude MPs for voting to expedite actions on child poverty.
The letter, headed up by the Trade Union Coordinating Group’s chair, Jo Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union, has been signed by leading figures, including Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack, who serves as the President of the Trades Union Congress, representing 48 affiliated trade unions with a total 5.5 million members.
Other signatories include Mick Lynch of the RMT union, Daniel Kebede of the National Education Union, Steve Gillan of the Prison Officers Association, Fran Heathcote of the Public and Commerical Services Union, Sarah Woolley of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union, Michelle Stanistreet of the National Union of Journalists, Paul Fleming of the Equity union and Bob Monks of the United Road Transport Union.
Whilst recognising the opportunities presented by the election of a Labour government promising to implement the New Deal for Working People bolstering workers’ rights, the union leaders have told Keir Starmer:
“We greatly regret the omission from the manifesto and subsequent King’s Speech of any plan to scrap the two-child limit to Universal Credit claims, which the Resolution Foundation has said impacts on 1.6 million children who live in families affected by this policy — of which households more than 3 in 5 have someone in work.”
The letter also challenges Labour’s argument that abolishing the limit would be an ‘unfunded promise’, urging the government to announce it will scrap the two-child limit in the Autumn Statement, to be paid for by taxes on unearned income.
The union leaders warn Starmer that the disciplinary action brought against the 7 MPs is a wholly unnecessary and counterproductive distraction when the government should instead be working with trade unions to start delivering on the much-needed action to strengthen workers’ rights and invest in public services.
Many of those who voted against the two-child limit during the King’s Speech represent constituencies with some of the highest levels of child poverty in the country. Leading experts have argued that the two-child limit is the single biggest driver of child poverty in the UK. If it is not abolished, over half of children in larger families will be growing up in poverty by 2027/28.
The Labour leadership has defended its position on the two-child limit, stating that the economic mess they have inherited from the previous government makes its abolition unaffordable. But child poverty campaigners have argued this ignores the long-term economic cost of keeping the policy in place. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, the societal cost of child poverty is estimated to be £39.5 billion a year. The group points out that scrapping the limit is the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty and would lift 300,000 children out of poverty overnight at a cost of £1.7 billion a year — a minuscule amount in the context of a £2.7 trillion economy.
As teachers, parents, charities, trade unions and Labour MPs continue to speak out, it’s clear that dissatisfaction over this policy won’t be going away anytime soon.
- Taj Ali is the editor of Tribune Magazine. You can follow Tribune Magazine on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
- This article was originally published by Tribune Magazine on 26th July, 2024.
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