Debate on bill on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, in the House of Commons, led by Pat McFadden. The answering members were Stephen Timms, Helen Whately and Rebecca Smith.
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Second reading. Agreed to on division (458 to 104). Programme motion on committal, proceedings in committee, consideration, third reading and other proceedings. Agreed to on question. Money resolution. King's recommendation signified. Agreed to on question.
Secondary information
- Type
- Parliamentary proceeding
- Reference
- 780 cc153-1513
- Session
- 2024-26
- Department
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Procedure
- Programme motions
- Proxy voting
- Money resolutions
- King's recommendation
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Related items
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Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill 2024-26
Thursday, 8 January 2026
Bills
House of Commons
- Proceeding contributions
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Nusrat Ghani | 780 c153 (Link to this contribution)
The reasoned amendment on the Order Paper has not been selected.
2.2 pm
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Pat McFadden | 780 c153 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
Core to our belief is the idea that...
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Oliver Dowden | 780 c153 (Link to this contribution)
The right hon. Gentleman has provoked me into responding. I served in the previous Conservative G...
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Nusrat Ghani | 780 c153 (Link to this contribution)
Order. Before the Secretary of State responds, let me say that there are many colleagues in the C...
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Pat McFadden | 780 cc153-4 (Link to this contribution)
The right hon. Gentleman has set out the previous Government’s justification. I am about to expla...
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John Grady | 780 c154 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Secretary of State give way?
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Pat McFadden | 780 c154 (Link to this contribution)
Not at the moment. This is not a static group; people’s circumstances change, marriages break up,...
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Ashley Fox | 780 c154 (Link to this contribution)
Twelve months ago, not only did the Government support the two-child cap, but they were busy susp...
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Pat McFadden | 780 c154 (Link to this contribution)
I will come on to the timing of our decision, and exactly why it is right.
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Pat McFadden | 780 c1384 (Link to this contribution)
Not at the moment.
As I said, around half the families who will benefit were not on univers...
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Kirsty Blackman | 780 c1384 (Link to this contribution)
Does the Secretary of State regret saying that whether the two-child cap on benefits causes harm ...
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Pat McFadden | 780 c1384 (Link to this contribution)
No, I do not regret anything I have ever said on this issue. All along in this debate, there has ...
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Wendy Morton | 780 c1384 (Link to this contribution)
On that point, will the Secretary of State give way?
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Pat McFadden | 780 cc1384-5 (Link to this contribution)
I shall if the right hon. Lady shows a little patience.
Around 60% of the families affected...
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Pat McFadden | 780 c155 (Link to this contribution)
The right hon. Gentleman is very keen, so I will give way.
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Desmond Swayne | 780 c155 (Link to this contribution)
It appears that those 300,000 were in poverty a year ago, but the Secretary of State has allowed ...
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Pat McFadden | 780 c155 (Link to this contribution)
Timing matters, and if the right hon. Gentleman shows a little patience, I will tell him exactly ...
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Meg Hillier | 780 c1386 (Link to this contribution)
As my right hon. Friend has described, this is a crucial policy, but it is a downpayment on tackl...
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Pat McFadden | 780 cc1386-156 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend is right, and the point she makes is that we also tackle these issues piece by pie...
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Wendy Morton | 780 c156 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Secretary of State give way?
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Pat McFadden | 780 c156 (Link to this contribution)
Not at the moment. We spent plenty of time in opposition writing those lists—we had many years to...
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Wendy Morton | 780 c156 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. I have tried my best to be patient, as ...
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Pat McFadden | 780 c1387 (Link to this contribution)
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor spelled out at the Budget how this was going to be paid for. ...
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Ann Davies | 780 c1387 (Link to this contribution)
I am glad that the UK Government are finally taking action on child poverty and removing the two-...
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Pat McFadden | 780 cc157-8 (Link to this contribution)
I remind the hon. Lady that the benefit cap does not apply to families who are in work or who hav...
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Nusrat Ghani | 780 cc158-1388 (Link to this contribution)
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
2.21 pm
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Helen Whately | 780 cc1388-159 (Link to this contribution)
Every week, millions of people up and down the country sit at their kitchen table and do the sums...
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Meg Hillier | 780 c159 (Link to this contribution)
What does the shadow Secretary of State have to say to my constituent, who found herself single w...
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Helen Whately | 780 c159 (Link to this contribution)
I am sure that all of us in this House care about poverty and children’s prospects, but the answe...
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Joy Morrissey | 780 c159 (Link to this contribution)
Does my hon. Friend agree that it is an issue of fairness for the taxpayer if people are working ...
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Helen Whately | 780 c1389 (Link to this contribution)
It is exactly as my hon. Friend says. The extra money that some families will be receiving—withou...
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Helen Whately | 780 c160 (Link to this contribution)
I will give way to Members on the Government Benches in a moment. I just ask them to think about ...
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John Grady | 780 c160 (Link to this contribution)
We in the Treasury Committee looked at this issue extensively, and I am unaware of any particular...
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Helen Whately | 780 c160 (Link to this contribution)
The fact is that people do the sums. That is the reality of the world we live in. The hon. Gentle...
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Nadia Whittome | 780 c160 (Link to this contribution)
The shadow Secretary of State must know that the vast majority of families in poverty include at ...
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Helen Whately | 780 c160 (Link to this contribution)
Unfortunately, the hon. Lady does not seem to understand that hypothecated taxes are not a thing....
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Desmond Swayne | 780 c160 (Link to this contribution)
I have a question too.
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Helen Whately | 780 c161 (Link to this contribution)
I would be delighted to hear it.
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Desmond Swayne | 780 c161 (Link to this contribution)
We now hear shouts of “cruelty” and “the rape clause”, but I see only one of the seven who were s...
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Helen Whately | 780 c1391 (Link to this contribution)
My right hon. Friend has indeed made a significant point about the strange position in which so m...
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Stuart Anderson | 780 c162 (Link to this contribution)
I am enjoying listening to Members who say they have met constituents who have suffered hard time...
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Helen Whately | 780 c162 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend has made the important point that no other party in the Chamber seems to realise w...
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Clive Lewis | 780 c1392 (Link to this contribution)
We on the Labour Benches at least understand the historical consistency:186 years ago the Tories ...
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Helen Whately | 780 cc1392-163 (Link to this contribution)
If the hon. Gentleman listens to what I am about to say about the back and forth on this policy o...
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Nusrat Ghani | 780 c163 (Link to this contribution)
I call the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee.
2.39 pm
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Debbie Abrahams | 780 cc163-4 (Link to this contribution)
Of the measures brought forward in this Government’s Budget last year, the abolition of the two-c...
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Amanda Hack | 780 c164 (Link to this contribution)
This issue is one of the things we have looked at in the Work and Pensions Committee, and the evi...
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Debbie Abrahams | 780 cc164-5 (Link to this contribution)
Absolutely; my hon. Friend is a wonderful member of the Select Committee, and I thank her for tha...
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Nusrat Ghani | 780 c165 (Link to this contribution)
Order. As so many Members wish to contribute, Back Benchers will be on a speaking limit, which wi...
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Steve Darling | 780 cc165-6 (Link to this contribution)
The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a society that is free, open and fair, and a s...
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Meg Hillier | 780 c166 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. It was, of course, his party, in coalition, that deliv...
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Steve Darling | 780 c166 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Member for her non-partisan intervention. The Liberal Democrats opposed the two-...
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Tom Tugendhat | 780 c166 (Link to this contribution)
I am slightly surprised that the hon. Gentleman is claiming that less is taken off them. Student ...
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Steve Darling | 780 cc1395-167 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his thoughts on that. I remind my colleague that shortly aft...
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Janet Daby | 780 c167 (Link to this contribution)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Torbay (Steve Darling). I appreciate the Liberal D...
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Meg Hillier | 780 c168 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend rightly highlights that this is partly about the wider structure, and it is also a...
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Janet Daby | 780 c1397 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend is absolutely correct; it is about supporting parents into better-paid work.
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Jim Shannon | 780 c1397 (Link to this contribution)
I commend the hon. Lady. May I put on record my thanks to her for her words, the Secretary of Sta...
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Janet Daby | 780 cc1397-8 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my hon. Friend—I call him that even though he sits on the other side of the House—for sta...
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Neil Shastri-Hurst | 780 c169 (Link to this contribution)
At its heart, this debate is about choices, and the choice before us today is whether we believe ...
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Debbie Abrahams | 780 c169 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
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Neil Shastri-Hurst | 780 c169 (Link to this contribution)
I will make some progress.
I will start with a real-life experience from my own constituenc...
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Debbie Abrahams | 780 c169 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman just spoke of whether or not the expenditure was wise. He also spoke about cho...
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Neil Shastri-Hurst | 780 cc169-170 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, but this is about choices. We come to this place to m...
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Meg Hillier | 780 c170 (Link to this contribution)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions made clear in his speech the nu...
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Neil Shastri-Hurst | 780 cc170-1399 (Link to this contribution)
It would be a safety net if it provided a short-term boost. What it does instead is provide an en...
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Kim Johnson | 780 cc1399-171 (Link to this contribution)
I really believe the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride),...
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Jeremy Corbyn | 780 c171 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Lady give way?
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Kim Johnson | 780 cc171-2 (Link to this contribution)
No, thank you.
It saddens and appals me that, in the sixth richest economy in the world, on...
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Luke Evans | 780 c172 (Link to this contribution)
Fairness matters, not only to those receiving the support but to those making the difficult choic...
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Sam Rushworth | 780 c172 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman mentions the local pharmacist. The local pharmacist in my constituency is my t...
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Luke Evans | 780 c1401 (Link to this contribution)
I would credit her. She is a credit to the hon. Gentleman’s family for what she has managed to ac...
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Clive Lewis | 780 c173 (Link to this contribution)
I am listening to the hon. Gentleman. Conservative Members always seem to portray this as an indi...
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Caroline Nokes | 780 c1402 (Link to this contribution)
Order. It is not me who is being referred to; it is the hon. Gentleman.
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Luke Evans | 780 c1402 (Link to this contribution)
That is far from the truth. I am simply arguing that we need to be fair to those who need the sys...
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Joy Morrissey | 780 c1402 (Link to this contribution)
It is an issue of fairness. The people of Beaconsfield, Marlow and the south Bucks villages have ...
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Luke Evans | 780 cc1403-174 (Link to this contribution)
That is exactly right. The public will stand for a generous safety net, but they will not stand f...
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Meg Hillier | 780 c174 (Link to this contribution)
Let us be clear: this Government came in with a plan to tackle child poverty, but quite rightly s...
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Luke Evans | 780 c1404 (Link to this contribution)
Why, in that case, was the Whip removed from Labour Members? Why is there no contingency in the B...
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Fleur Anderson | 780 cc1404-5 (Link to this contribution)
I am very proud to support the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill. It will tackle...
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Carla Lockhart | 780 c176 (Link to this contribution)
I commend the hon. Member on her speech. Evidence shows that the two-child limit has not changed ...
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Fleur Anderson | 780 c176 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Member highlights one of the many painful decisions that people have to make on the back...
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Kirsty Blackman | 780 cc176-1406 (Link to this contribution)
I will touch briefly on the Conservatives’ position and then turn to the Bill itself.
The C...
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Luke Evans | 780 c1406 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Member give way?
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Kirsty Blackman | 780 cc1406-8 (Link to this contribution)
I will not.
The reality is that the Conservatives’ position is a very entitled, privileged ...
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Luke Evans | 780 c1408 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Member give way?
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Kirsty Blackman | 780 cc1408-177 (Link to this contribution)
I said I would not give way.
Let me turn to where we are today. The Labour party is being a...
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Douglas McAllister | 780 cc178-9 (Link to this contribution)
I rise to support the Bill and do so proudly on behalf of the families I represent in West Dunbar...
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Tom Tugendhat | 780 cc179-180 (Link to this contribution)
I have heard so many well motivated and moving stories about human misery, and the truth is those...
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Scott Arthur | 780 c180 (Link to this contribution)
Will the right hon. Member give way?
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Tom Tugendhat | 780 c180 (Link to this contribution)
I will not.
This debate is not just about cash; it is fundamentally about people. There has...
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Tom Tugendhat | 780 c180 (Link to this contribution)
I have said I will not give way. It is true that what we are seeing in the UK today is a legacy: ...
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Helen Hayes | 780 cc180-1 (Link to this contribution)
Child poverty is a scourge on any society. It is a tragedy for individual children and families, ...
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Jeremy Corbyn | 780 c181 (Link to this contribution)
I absolutely welcome this Bill. It is an enormous step forward and will bring great relief to a l...
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Helen Hayes | 780 cc181-2 (Link to this contribution)
I will go on to talk a little about some of the further measures that I believe the Government ne...
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Charlotte Cane | 780 c182 (Link to this contribution)
Like so many Members from across the House, I welcome the Government’s decision finally to scrap ...
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Roz Savage | 780 c182 (Link to this contribution)
There are many reasons people end up on universal credit and in family situations with more than ...
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Charlotte Cane | 780 cc1413-183 (Link to this contribution)
I commend Cotswold district council for that work. Unfortunately, when I tried to get East Cambri...
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Lee Barron | 780 cc183-4 (Link to this contribution)
First, I want to take us back, because this debate is being pitched as if those who are not in wo...
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Kit Malthouse | 780 cc184-5 (Link to this contribution)
As my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Shastri-Hurst) said, no one in thi...
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Scott Arthur | 780 c185 (Link to this contribution)
We do not have to look to France. This is fundamentally an issue that many families face around b...
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Kit Malthouse | 780 cc185-6 (Link to this contribution)
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman is paying attention to my entries in the Register of Members’ F...
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Jack Abbott | 780 c186 (Link to this contribution)
It is true to say that the Conservative party has been right about one thing today: this is about...
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Luke Evans | 780 c186 (Link to this contribution)
There are not many on the Opposition Benches—the hon. Gentleman’s party won the last election—but...
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Jack Abbott | 780 cc187-8 (Link to this contribution)
I was actually referring to the number of Opposition Members defending this policy here today. I ...
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Sarah Pochin | 780 c188 (Link to this contribution)
Although the reasoned amendment tabled by my Reform UK colleagues and myself has not been selecte...
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Sarah Pochin | 780 cc108-110 (Link to this contribution)
Let me make some progress. It increases the support to non-working families beyond that given to ...
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Sarah Pochin | 780 cc112-4 (Link to this contribution)
Just a minute—I do not know who is first.
Due to higher birth rates among foreign nationals...
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Richard Quigley | 780 cc189-190 (Link to this contribution)
Listening to the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Wha...
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Ashley Fox | 780 cc190-117 (Link to this contribution)
The benefits system is a safety net designed to support people in hardship, but a fair system mus...
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Sam Rushworth | 780 c118 (Link to this contribution)
I am deeply offended by the hon. Gentleman’s comment about people in the north of England, as tho...
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Ashley Fox | 780 cc191-120 (Link to this contribution)
If the hon. Gentleman had listened to what I was saying, he would know that I was describing the ...
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Samantha Niblett | 780 cc120-193 (Link to this contribution)
I rise to speak in support of lifting the two-child cap, not just as a Member of Parliament but a...
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Manuela Perteghella | 780 cc193-4 (Link to this contribution)
The two-child limit has punished children for circumstances entirely beyond their control. For ne...
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James Frith | 780 cc194-5 (Link to this contribution)
Of course I support the Bill. It is what we are here for: to do this at the stroke of a pen—not o...
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Zarah Sultana | 780 cc195-124 (Link to this contribution)
Labour MPs are lining up today to congratulate themselves on ending the two-child limit. I welcom...
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Jeremy Corbyn | 780 c124 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Member recognise that additional causes of child poverty include a tax threshold th...
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Zarah Sultana | 780 cc1420-196 (Link to this contribution)
I agree completely with the right hon. Gentleman. [Interruption.] If I could continue without the...
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Ian Byrne | 780 c196 (Link to this contribution)
I was also one of the seven Labour MPs suspended: for voting, to be quite clear, on an amendment ...
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Jeremy Corbyn | 780 c197 (Link to this contribution)
I compliment the hon. Member on the amazing work he has done on the Right to Food Commission and ...
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Ian Byrne | 780 cc128-198 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my right hon. Friend for those remarks. We run food pantries in Liverpool with Fans Suppo...
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Liz Jarvis | 780 cc198-134 (Link to this contribution)
Scrapping the two-child benefit cap is the single most important action this Government could tak...
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Darren Paffey | 780 cc134-199 (Link to this contribution)
I am proud to support the Bill and do so with the families of Southampton firmly in mind. Those a...
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Matt Rodda | 780 c199 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend is making an excellent point. The issues he describes in his Southampton constitue...
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Darren Paffey | 780 cc138-9 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my hon. Friend for making that salient point, and I will come to that wider package of me...
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Josh Fenton-Glynn | 780 c139 (Link to this contribution)
Consistently wrong.
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Darren Paffey | 780 cc141-200 (Link to this contribution)
Consistently wrong, and they have made a consistent and desperate attempt to be divisive. They ar...
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Siân Berry | 780 cc200-1 (Link to this contribution)
The Government have drawn this Bill too narrowly. It will, as Members have mentioned several time...
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Kirsty Blackman | 780 c201 (Link to this contribution)
Does the hon. Member share my concerns that the arguments that are being made by the Labour Gover...
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Siân Berry | 780 cc153-4 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Member for pointing out yet again that some of us in this House voted to move on...
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Nadia Whittome | 780 cc154-202 (Link to this contribution)
The introduction of the two-child limit by the Conservatives in 2017 has had a devastating impact...
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Caroline Nokes | 780 c203 (Link to this contribution)
Order. May I gently remind the hon. Lady that this is a very specific debate about the removal of...
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Susan Murray | 780 cc203-162 (Link to this contribution)
I apologise.
Removing the two-child cap is a vital step, and I hope that the Government cho...
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Steve Witherden | 780 cc162-204 (Link to this contribution)
Scrapping the two-child limit is a clear win-win. It will improve the living standards of around ...
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Neil Duncan-Jordan | 780 c204 (Link to this contribution)
Five in six low-income households on universal credit are going without the essentials. The Josep...
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Steve Witherden | 780 cc165-6 (Link to this contribution)
I agree with my hon. Friend, who cites some absolutely appalling statistics. An essentials guaran...
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David Baines | 780 cc166-205 (Link to this contribution)
This has been a very revealing debate in which Members on all sides of the House have made intere...
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Gill German | 780 cc205-6 (Link to this contribution)
I know all too well the difference this Bill will make for families across the country. In my con...
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Adnan Hussain | 780 c206 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Member makes a fantastic point. You either get it or you don’t: what we are doing is giv...
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Gill German | 780 cc1428-207 (Link to this contribution)
I absolutely agree. Every child deserves the chance to fulfil their potential, and it is our resp...
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John McDonnell | 780 cc207-8 (Link to this contribution)
I am pleased that I have sat through the whole debate today. The speeches I have heard from Membe...
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Caroline Nokes | 780 cc4-249 (Link to this contribution)
Order. For the assistance of Back Benchers who still wish to speak, I am about to remove the time...
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Josh Fenton-Glynn | 780 cc249-209 (Link to this contribution)
You’re in trouble now, Madam Deputy Speaker!
The Bill will be remembered as one of the prou...
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Sam Rushworth | 780 cc209-211 (Link to this contribution)
The last time we debated this issue, I took many interventions from Conservative Members—there ar...
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Lizzi Collinge | 780 cc212-264 (Link to this contribution)
When the Labour Government came to office, 4.5 million children were living in poverty, and I bel...
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Josh Fenton-Glynn | 780 c264 (Link to this contribution)
One of the most distressing things that I discovered when I was working at Church Action on Pover...
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Lizzi Collinge | 780 cc265-213 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend is entirely right. Parents, in my experience, will do anything to protect their ch...
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John Slinger | 780 c213 (Link to this contribution)
Does my hon. Friend agree that fecklessness is not a trait exhibited only by poorer people in our...
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Lizzi Collinge | 780 cc273-214 (Link to this contribution)
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that fecklessness is not limited to any one socioeconomic ...
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Stuart Anderson | 780 c214 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Member is making an impassioned speech. If the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that this...
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Lizzi Collinge | 780 cc281-215 (Link to this contribution)
That is actually a reasonable question. The answer is that we had to make sure the country could ...
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Jeevun Sandher | 780 cc215-183 (Link to this contribution)
Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a pleasure to be able to speak for the next hour, while there is no t...
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Rebecca Smith | 780 c216 (Link to this contribution)
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Trussell Trust was founded in this country in 2000, under a ...
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Jeevun Sandher | 780 c290 (Link to this contribution)
Did the guidance change between 2016 and 2024? Could the hon. Lady explain to me from the Opposit...
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Rebecca Smith | 780 c186 (Link to this contribution)
Well, without having the statistics in front of me right this second—[Interruption.] No, let me f...
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Jeevun Sandher | 780 cc187-298 (Link to this contribution)
The rise happened before covid; it happened after the two-child limit was introduced. I agree wit...
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Gareth Snell | 780 c298 (Link to this contribution)
Will my hon. Friend give way?
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Jeevun Sandher | 780 cc304-189 (Link to this contribution)
In a moment.
This is not, by the way, the first time in history that we have confronted thi...
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Gareth Snell | 780 cc189-217 (Link to this contribution)
I am an hon. Friend, not right honourable, though I welcome the promotion.
I have listened ...
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Jeevun Sandher | 780 cc217-306 (Link to this contribution)
I agree with my hon. Friend. Conservative Members have often spoken about their employment record...
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John Slinger | 780 cc306-8 (Link to this contribution)
The child poverty crisis that we inherited from the previous Government is, indeed, stark. In 201...
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Stuart Anderson | 780 c308 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Member say what statistic backs up the statement that a third of the children in th...
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John Slinger | 780 c218 (Link to this contribution)
The number of children—[Interruption.] The number of children in poverty rose substantially.
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Antonia Bance | 780 c309 (Link to this contribution)
I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that the statistics on below-average-income households a...
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John Slinger | 780 cc196-314 (Link to this contribution)
That is indeed the statistic that I was reaching for in my notes, and I thank my hon. Friend.
... -
Josh Fenton-Glynn | 780 c314 (Link to this contribution)
The Reform policy really is quite something, as I am sure my hon. Friend would agree. In fact, if...
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John Slinger | 780 c198 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my hon. Friend. I was very moved by his speech, which he delivered from a position of gre...
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Jeevun Sandher | 780 c199 (Link to this contribution)
I like a pint as well, as it happens—sometimes more than one—but I think it is fair to say that p...
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John Slinger | 780 c315 (Link to this contribution)
I could not have put it better, particularly the point my hon. Friend made about enjoying a pint....
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Luke Evans | 780 c219 (Link to this contribution)
I just see the irony of the hon. Member talking about linking this to alcohol, which is a serious...
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John Slinger | 780 c201 (Link to this contribution)
It is perfectly acceptable and reasonable for a Government such as ours to take measures in Budge...
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Sam Rushworth | 780 c201 (Link to this contribution)
Does my hon. Friend share my confusion at the point that has just been made? Does it not illustra...
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John Slinger | 780 c202 (Link to this contribution)
I am assuming that the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth is opposing the policy before us tod...
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Nusrat Ghani | 780 c202 (Link to this contribution)
Order. “You”, Mr Slinger—I have mentioned this to you so many times. Let us start again.
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John Slinger | 780 cc320-2 (Link to this contribution)
I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman is opposing the policy that will reduce chi...
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Graham Stuart | 780 c322 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Member give way?
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John Slinger | 780 cc322-204 (Link to this contribution)
I will not give way.
The arguments we heard about parental responsibility, the claim that p...
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David Baines | 780 c220 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. He says no evidence was given for those arguments. Th...
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John Slinger | 780 cc325-205 (Link to this contribution)
I agree with my hon. Friend that it is insulting, and it was surprising that the shadow Secretary...
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Graham Stuart | 780 c205 (Link to this contribution)
I was not here earlier in the debate, so please forgive me, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentle...
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John Slinger | 780 cc327-221 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention; I always enjoy them. I found this one part...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 cc221-2 (Link to this contribution)
I first put on record my thanks to my Deep Heat patch; three hours of bobbing with a bad back has...
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Rebecca Smith | 780 c222 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Member give way?
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c330 (Link to this contribution)
I would adore it.
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Rebecca Smith | 780 cc209-212 (Link to this contribution)
No one has ever told me that they would adore to hear me speak in this place! I completely apprec...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c212 (Link to this contribution)
It is a very unusual way to defend food bank use to say that it is because poverty is now being c...
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Marsha De Cordova | 780 c212 (Link to this contribution)
I commend my hon. Friend for his speech. We all have to admit that when the Conservatives came in...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c333 (Link to this contribution)
I wholeheartedly agree. There is something wrong with society when Members of Opposition parties,...
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Chris Vince | 780 c223 (Link to this contribution)
I thank my hon. Friend for recently welcoming me to the Peterborough museum and art gallery, wher...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c337 (Link to this contribution)
I agree with my hon. Friend. I put on the record my tribute to all food bank volunteers, not just...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 cc215-224 (Link to this contribution)
Certainly. Many of my food banks would support the single policy that we are voting on today, so ...
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Gareth Snell | 780 c224 (Link to this contribution)
My hon. Friend’s point about lost moments of childhood is often missed. It is all well and good t...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c224 (Link to this contribution)
I entirely endorse my hon. Friend’s comments. It sounds as if we may have had similar childhoods,...
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Lee Anderson | 780 c224 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time. Does he not agree with us that British p...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c225 (Link to this contribution)
I think that my community is full of wonderful British people—people who stand up for British val...
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Caroline Nokes | 780 c350 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I respectfully remind the hon. Gentleman not to use the word “you”. He was suggesting that...
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c350 (Link to this contribution)
I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am wearing a deep heat patch for my bad back, so there would...
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Luke Evans | 780 c351 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
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Andrew Pakes | 780 c351 (Link to this contribution)
I will try to make some progress.
We have inherited an economic and moral failure by the pr...
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Antonia Bance | 780 c351 (Link to this contribution)
I stand here as a proud representative of the Black Country and the trade union movement. Black C...
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Graham Stuart | 780 c218 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Lady give way?
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Antonia Bance | 780 c353 (Link to this contribution)
I will get to the right hon. Member.
It was the Conservative party that changed the benefit...
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Graham Stuart | 780 c226 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Lady is, as ever, showing a powerful oratorical style, but it is so easy when doing that...
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Antonia Bance | 780 c354 (Link to this contribution)
The right hon. Member will note that I was making a point about the comparative rates in differen...
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Luke Evans | 780 c227 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Lady talks about speaking for the public, but consistently, in all polling, 60% of Brits...
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Antonia Bance | 780 c219 (Link to this contribution)
I say to the people in my constituency and elsewhere who have raised questions with me about this...
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Caroline Nokes | 780 c219 (Link to this contribution)
Order. Not “you”—I have not spoken in this debate!
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Antonia Bance | 780 cc219-228 (Link to this contribution)
Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.
I say to those on the Opposition Benches who are...
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Rebecca Smith | 780 cc1445-229 (Link to this contribution)
I will start by repeating something that the Secretary of State said at the start of the debate. ...
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Sam Rushworth | 780 c229 (Link to this contribution)
Will the shadow Minister give way?
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Rebecca Smith | 780 cc1451-6 (Link to this contribution)
No, I am going to make some progress.
We are talking about men and women who are working lo...
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Rebecca Smith | 780 cc1463-6 (Link to this contribution)
No, I will not give way; I am going to make some progress.
These mums and dads are the back...
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Gareth Snell | 780 c1466 (Link to this contribution)
On the point of doing the right thing, the data suggests that in the shadow Minister’s own consti...
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Rebecca Smith | 780 cc221-230 (Link to this contribution)
I also speak for the 60% of the population who do not think we should be scrapping the cap. No do...
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Sam Rushworth | 780 c230 (Link to this contribution)
Will the shadow Minister give way?
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Rebecca Smith | 780 cc1478-231 (Link to this contribution)
No, because I believe the hon. Gentleman’s Minister will want to have a fair share of time as wel...
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Stephen Timms | 780 cc231-2 (Link to this contribution)
Like the shadow Minister, I will start by quoting my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for...
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Steve Darling | 780 c232 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Minister give way?
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Stephen Timms | 780 cc1483-6 (Link to this contribution)
I will not just at the moment. Poverty does immense harm, as we have heard, to children and their...
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Siân Berry | 780 c1486 (Link to this contribution)
The Government narrowed the scope of the last benefits Bill, and it could widen this Bill to take...
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Stephen Timms | 780 cc1489-233 (Link to this contribution)
The change for which I think the hon. Lady is arguing would make a relatively modest alteration t...
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Stephen Timms | 780 cc1502-234 (Link to this contribution)
No, I will not be giving way.
It was very interesting to hear the arguments of the hon. Mem...
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Caroline Nokes | 780 c234 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Serjeant at Arms investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby?
- Subjects
- Education Poverty Children Benefits rules Health Families Low incomes Universal credit Social mobility
- Legislation
- Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill 2024-26
- Link
- View this Parliamentary proceeding on hansard.parliament.uk
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- 2026-06-25 08:46:44 +0100
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