Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill Committee: New Clause 3

MPs rejected New Clause 3 to the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill at committee stage on 23 February 2026, by 256 votes to 73. The clause would have required the government to review the Bill's impact on child poverty, destitution, and wider social and economic outcomes, with a particular focus on families who remain trapped by the overall benefit cap and gain nothing from removing the two-child limit. The practical significance of the vote lies in what the Bill does not address. The government estimates the Bill will increase universal credit awards for around 560,000 families. However, John McDonnell and others argued in debate that approximately 150,000 children live in households subject to the overall benefit cap, which limits total benefit income regardless of how many children a family has. For those roughly 50,000 families, removing the two-child limit produces no net gain, because any increase is clawed back by the cap. New Clause 3 sought a formal government assessment of those left behind. The government's position was that a comprehensive impact assessment is already planned as part of its wider child poverty strategy, making a separate statutory requirement unnecessary. Labour MPs, including members of the Labour and Co-operative Party grouping, voted solidly against the clause, with 287 Labour MPs voting no and none voting in favour. The Liberal Democrats supplied the largest bloc of ayes, with 53 of their MPs voting for the clause, joined by the SNP (6), Plaid Cymru (4), the Greens (3), the DUP (3), and two independents. One Conservative MP voted aye; the vast majority of the Conservative group, 115 MPs, had no vote recorded. The vote took place on the same day as the Bill's Third Reading, which passed 361 to 84, confirming broad cross-party support for removing the two-child limit while a smaller coalition pressed for greater scrutiny of its boundaries.