Overview

• On May 27, Nigel Farage pledged in London to scrap the two-child benefit cap, fully restore winter fuel payments and introduce a transferable marriage tax allowance to woo working-class voters.
• Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that removing the two-child cap is “certainly something we are considering,” marking the strongest government signal yet.
• Ministers have announced a partial U-turn on winter fuel payments by restoring the allowance for all but the wealthiest pensioners.
• The government has delayed its child poverty strategy until autumn, when it plans to set out definitive welfare reforms including the fate of the two-child cap.
• Independent experts and the Institute for Fiscal Studies caution that fully reversing the cap and fuel cuts could add roughly £5 billion to borrowing and strain existing fiscal rules.