Child poverty strategy (removal of two child limit): Ten Minute Rule Motion

On 16 September 2025, MPs voted on whether to allow a bill to proceed that would require the government to publish a child poverty strategy including proposals to abolish the two-child limit on Universal Credit payments. The bill, introduced by SNP MP Kirsty Blackman under the Ten Minute Rule procedure (a mechanism allowing backbench MPs to seek permission to bring forward a bill), passed narrowly by 89 votes to 79. The two-child limit, introduced in 2017, restricts Universal Credit payments to the first two children in a family. Blackman's bill would compel the government to include plans to remove that limit as part of a child poverty strategy. In practical terms, the vote allows the bill to move to further parliamentary stages, though Ten Minute Rule bills face significant hurdles before becoming law. Blackman argued during the debate that 100 children a day are being pushed into poverty by the cap, and that the government had repeatedly delayed publishing a child poverty strategy despite a commitment from the Prime Minister in July 2024. The Conservatives voted unanimously against, with MP Peter Bedford arguing that removing the cap would undermine personal responsibility and fairness to taxpayers. Labour, despite holding a large parliamentary majority, had no votes recorded against and only 9 MPs voting in favour, with 352 Labour MPs recording no vote. The Liberal Democrats provided the largest bloc of support with 61 ayes. The SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, the SDLP, and several independents also voted in favour. The government's own position was not clearly expressed in the debate record.