SNP'S RONA MACKAY ASTONISHED AT FAILURE TO HELP POOREST IN SOCIETY
Strathkelvin and Bearsden SNP MSP Rona Mackay has expressed her shock and dismay after Scottish Labour MPs voted against scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
Of Scottish Labour’s 37 MPs, 36 rejected an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling for it to be scrapped, while one – Katrina Murray, newly elected Labour MP for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch – did not record a vote.
The amendment was defeated by 363 votes to 103 at Westminster on Wednesday.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has previously called for an end to the cap, which prevents most parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child.
Ms Mackay said: “I’m quite frankly astonished that Scottish Labour MPs would vote against lifting thousands of children out of poverty and instead vote to keep the Tory two-child benefit limit for the poorest in society.
"Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch Labour MP Katrina Murray missed the vote with no explanation and therefore missed the chance to stand up for her constituents and vote against this cruel policy. I find this hard to comprehend.
“This draconian policy affects hundreds of families in my constituency. I’m shocked and dismayed. It is the very worst of Westminster’s cuts. Scrapping the cap is the bare minimum we should expect from a UK Labour government.
“The SNP introduced the groundbreaking Scottish Child Payment to help families in need and we will continue to campaign for the diabolical two-child cap to be abolished.”
On Thursday morning, the SNP published new analysis showing the devastating impact the two-child cap is having on families in Scotland and across the UK. The analysis, conducted by the House of Commons Library, shows an estimated 87,100 children in Scotland live in households hit by the two child cap over the last year - with a total of 1,486,760 children hit across Britain.
Breakdown of families impacted by local authority area in Scotland
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