Reform UK would bring back two-child benefit cap, says Robert Jenrick

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Robert Jenrick has announced a significant policy U-turn for Reform UK on the contentious two-child benefit cap, as he set out a more conservative economic policy platform in his role as the party’s newly minted “shadow chancellor”.

Jenrick committed to reintroducing the two-child benefit cap in full if Reform took power at the next general election.

Party leader Nigel Farage previously said that under a Reform government, the policy — which blocks families from receiving child benefits for more than two children — would not apply to British families to encourage higher birth rates.

“Reform is changing our policy on the two-child cap for universal credit,” Jenrick said at a speech in the City of London on Wednesday morning, adding that bringing back the cap would save £3bn in 2029-30.

“We want to help working families have more children,” he said. “But right now, we just cannot afford to do so with welfare. So it has to go.”

He said Reform would set out an ambitious plan for welfare reform, which would include stripping welfare payments from hundreds of thousands of people claiming support for mental health conditions.

“We will stop those with mild anxiety, depression and similar conditions from claiming disability benefits and instead encourage them into the dignity of work,” he said. All mental health benefits would “require clinical diagnoses to weed out those who are choosing a life on benefits”, he added.

Former Tory minister Jenrick defected to Reform last month and was named as the party’s “shadow chancellor” on Tuesday. 

With just eight MPs, Reform is not the official opposition to the Labour government. The Tories have 116 MPs, while the Liberal Democrats have 72.

But the rightwing populist party is riding high in public opinion polls, commanding about 28 per cent of public support, compared with Labour on 19 per cent and the Tories on 16 per cent.

Jenrick also said that Reform would keep the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK’s fiscal watchdog, and maintain the Bank of England’s independence if it wins power, in an effort to calm City nerves about the party’s approach to the economy.

Referencing Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s criticism of the government as being “in hock to the bond markets”, Jenrick said: “The bond markets force the government to face up to trade-offs — Reform respects and welcomes that.”

“Reform will be careful with taxpayers’ money. Your money. Because that is what it is,” he added.