(Bloomberg) -- Scotland’s government plans to remove a limit on child benefits, a high-profile move by the ruling Scottish National Party to challenge a controversial policy that the Labour Party kept after its huge UK election victory this year.
The decision to scrap the limit on parents claiming tax credits or benefits on more than two children will help “lift more than 15,000 children out of poverty,” Finance Secretary Shona Robison said on Wednesday, as she announced her budget for the next financial year.
The pro-independence SNP, which has governed Scotland for 17 years, is attempting to see off the challenge of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party ahead of elections to the Scottish parliament in May 2026. The SNP suffered its worst performance in more than a decade in UK-wide elections earlier this year, and Labour is now seeking to replicate that performance in Scotland and take control of the Edinburgh legislature.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who’s seeking to become First Minister in 2026, has repeatedly called for the UK government to end the two-child limit and promised he would press Starmer to scrap the policy.
“We’ve waited but Labour haven’t delivered,” Robison told lawmakers in the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh. “Be in no doubt the cap will be scrapped. My challenge to Labour is to work with us.”
As well as increased spending on health and social care, the Scottish government already announced plans for a new winter fuel payment for pensioners, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves withdrew it from millions across the UK.
The SNP, which has controlled the Scottish parliament since 2007, will need the support of opposition lawmakers to pass the budget in February. It ended a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens earlier this year that gave it a majority.
Failure to pass the budget could lead to an early election. But with opinion polls showing no clear favourite, it’s unlikely to be in the interest of any of opposition parties to force a change of government.
(Adds context on Scottish Labour leader, tweet from MSP member)
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