Politicians representing Stirling, including MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane Keith Brown, have written a joint letter to Sir Keir Starmer, demanding an immediate U-turn on the cruel two-child benefit cap.

It follows new analysis, conducted by the SNP, which shows that of the households that are in receipt of Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits, 54% in Clackmannanshire and 58% in Stirling council areas have been hit by the cruel Labour and Tory two child cap – meaning they did not receive support for at least one child. 

The analysis also revealed that 20,000 children across Scotland have been pushed into poverty this year as a result of the two-child cap. It comes amid a growing backlash against the Labour party’s admission that it would keep the two-child cap and may keep other damaging Tory cuts.

In the joint letter, Clackmannanshire & Dunblane MSP Keith Brown, Stirling MP Alyn Smith, and Stirling MSP Evelyn Tweed said that Sir Keir Starmer “will have abandoned thousands of families in Scotland to poverty” if he fails to scrap the two-child cap – and that “voting SNP is the only way to secure independence and get rid of damaging Westminster governments for good”.

In the letter, they said:  

‘As Stirling’s parliamentary representatives in both Westminster and Holyrood, we implore you to rethink your support of cruel Tory austerity policies – particularly your recent u-turn to back the two-child benefit cap.

‘Rightly condemned by charities, campaign groups and even your own Labour party colleagues in London and Edinburgh, we agree that it is a despicable policy which thrusts innocent children into the clutches of poverty.

‘And yet, it seems that your party is indifferent to the suffering of working families, who are already struggling to make ends meet in this cost of living crisis. 

‘In Stirling alone, the impact of this heartless policy has devastated 480 households relying on Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits. The Tories may have initiated this abhorrent legacy, but it is utterly reprehensible that your party is now complicit in perpetuating this cruelty. By callously abandoning thousands of families in Scotland to further poverty and hardship, you only prove how dysfunctional and broken the Union really is.

‘You have the power to make a difference, to stand up for the vulnerable, and scrap this flawed policy. Anything short of a complete reversal on this vile policy will only further reveal the depths to which the party you lead have sunk in their pursuit to imitate the Tories.

‘We await your response, as do hundreds of families in Stirling.’

Read the full letter below: