Jane Dodds MS calls on Eluned Morgan to lobby the Prime Minister to lift Two Child Benefit Cap

Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds has called on First Minister Eluned Morgan to lobby her Westminster counterpart Keir Starmer to lift the current two child benefit cap.

Introduced in 2017, the cap limits parents from claiming a payment from the government to only their first two children.

A report from the Bevan Foundation found that last year more than 65,000 children in Wales were affected by the two-child limit, 11% of all children in Wales.

In a letter to the First Minister, Jane Dodds MS expressed her disappointment that the new FM failed to mention child poverty in her priority statement to the Siambr earlier in the week.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat leader also expressed her deep concerns around child poverty, which she described as “alarming” and challenged the FM to champion the voice of Wales most vulnerable citizens.

“While I commend the First Minister for her pledge to put ‘country first, party second, I challenge her to take this commitment further and stand up for those in Wales who lack a voice” said Jane Dodds MS

“The reality of child poverty in Wales is both stark and alarming with a staggering 29% of Welsh children forced to live in relative income poverty, a figure that has remained far too high for more than a decade.

This is why it was so disappointing to not hear the FM make any mention of this issue during her address to the Siambr on Tuesday.

If she is serious about placing Wales first, then she must petition the Prime Minister to remove the damaging two-child benefit cap so that we can lift our nation’s future out of the dark and into the light.”