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George Osborne has been branded "disgusting" after defending the two-child benefit cap as something to encourage parents to discuss if they can afford more kids. The former Tory Chancellor, who brought in the cruel cap , told MPs it was about reducing incentives in the welfare system, amid growing calls for it to be scrapped. Challenged on if he'd seen research showing parents were having babies to get benefits while appearing before Westminster’s Treasury Committee , Mr Osborne insisted he’d been trying to start a conversation. He said: “I can’t recall if there was a specific paper that came to me around that, but we clearly felt at the time and it was widely supported across the political spectrum that there were disproportionate incentives in the welfare system. “It wasn't so much that they were having babies to claim benefits, it’s that the conversation that many families in Britain had, which is ‘can we afford another child’, was a conversation we wanted all to have.” Responding, Labour MP Joani Reid claimed people would be "disgusted" by Mr Osborne's justifications.The East Kilbride and Strathaven MP said: "Decent people will feel nothing more than disgust with George Osborne's excuses for making children the number one target for his austerity cuts. Son of a baronet, heir to a fortune, he just doesn't have a clue. It's time Labour turned the page on his cruelty and I hope we'll see that start in the Budget." Katie Schmuecker, Principal Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, repeated calls for the cap to be scrapped. She said: "Whatever debates were taking place within previous governments, the evidence shows that without action 4.8 million children in this country will be in poverty by the end of this parliament, 300,000 more than when this government came to power. "This government is right to vow get child poverty down, and scrapping the two-child limit would be the most cost effective and impactful way to do that this parliament." Mr Osborne, who oversaw sweeping austerity and gutted public services, claimed other options recommended to make savings he disagreed with. He said: “It was actually introduced after the coalition ended in the Conservative Government. We did produce a piece of work at the request of the Liberal Democrats looking at what are the public expenditure cuts that disproportionately affect the upper income brackets, as opposed to lower income brackets, and the three policies that the Treasury came up with were increase university fees, get rid of free museum entry, not something I am in favour of now I’m chairman of the British Museum, and free swimming lessons. We said no to all three, beyond what we’d already done on tuition fees.” The podcaster added: “The great thing about having a Labour Government is that you can reintroduce Sure Start and get rid of the two-child cap.” Previous research into the decade of austerity by the Conservative-led governments after 2010 resulted in more than half a trillion pounds of lost public spending and a weaker economy. The Progressive Economy Forum report found that if state spending continued at the pace before David Cameron became PM, it would have been £91bn higher by 2019 – enough to cover the entire education budget in that year. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are considering abolishing or watering down the policy which has been blamed by charities for trapping kids in poverty. The government is set to publish the work of its child poverty review alongside the Budget , which is expected to include recommendations on the two-child benefit limit.
