Councillors clashed in a heated debate over the impact the two-child benefit cap has on families in County Durham. 

The county council’s Liberal Democrat group laid down a motion before councillors urging them to back calls to scrap the two-child limit on benefits payments. It also asked the council to write to MPs in County Durham, encouraging them to back the plea. 

The policy means most families can only receive benefits for their first two children, with a few exemptions. The cap came into effect in 2017 and was among changes to the benefits system announced by the Conservative Party. 

“If you care about child poverty there’s no better way to do it than ending the cap,” said Lib Dem councillor Craig Martin, of North Lodge ward, at a full council meeting this week. 

“It is not fair to punish a child and subject them to entrenched poverty, because of the perceived failings of the parents. We should be supporting the needs of children as opposed to publishing the entire family.”

But opposition Labour members criticised the plea and said it didn’t go far enough to tackle regional child poverty issues.

Councillor Angela Surtees responded: “This motion is laughable. 

“You and your party are to blame. From 2010, the Conservative/ Lib Dem government introduced these measures and you have supported an increase in child poverty by over 13 per cent across the country in the last 14 years.

“This motion only tackles a small amount of families in poverty. Your motion completely misses the point of child poverty entirely.”

The Easington councillor instead proposed the council write to the government to ask how it can support and deliver the new Child Poverty Strategy Plan and work with the North East Combined Authority. The Labour member told the Joint Administration in charge of the council to “put their money where their mouth is” and work with local authorities and government to tackle child poverty. 

Backing the amendment, Ferryhill’s Curtis Bihari said: “As someone who grew up in one of the most deprived towns in the county, to sit here and listen to members opposite try and lecture me on tackling child poverty is nothing short of offensive. Your parties are the ones responsible for this.”

And Deputy Labour Leader, cllr Rob Crute, questioned the motive behind the Liberal Democrat plea. He said: “This policy has been in place since 2017 so why has it taken seven years for councillor Martin to raise this issue? Why has he sat on his hands and his conscience? What’s changed since 2017 to prompt this sudden outburst of moral outrage? To me, this looks like nothing but expediency and opportunism.”

Liberal Democrat members said the Tory policy wasn’t backed by their party and they were not in power when it was enforced. Councillor Mark Wilkes said the Labour amendment “doesn’t really do anything” and noted how the local authority is supporting families. 

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He said: “This council recently changed policy to automatically enrol schoolchildren onto free school meals. We’re supporting low-income families with one of the only full council tax reduction schemes in the region. 

“The amendment from Labour is completely unacceptable. I don’t see any legitimate reasons for anyone not supporting the scrapping of the two-child cap.”

However, despite the support from Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Independent members, the Labour amendment was carried and approved.