‘Not enough cash’ to end two-child benefit cap

Scottish ministers “don’t have the money” to end the two-child cap on benefits set by the UK, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard called for Holyrood to mitigate the UK government policy, which limits tax credit payments and Universal Credit to a family’s first two children.

Mr Leonard said the cost of doing so would represent 0.2 per cent (£69 million) of the budget announced by finance secretary Derek Mackay on Wednesday.

“This Parliament has the power to mitigate the twochild cap and that would immediately benefit 3,780 families across Scotland, some by over £2,500 per child per year,” he said.

Ms Sturgeon: “This government does everything it can to mitigate UK welfare cuts. We’re spending in the region of £100 million every year to do that.

“The fact that we cannot mitigate every cut is not a lack of political will, it’s a fact of basic arithmetic.”