Watch Labour’s flip-flopping on winter fuel and benefits, and you’ll see who’s really considered important | Frances Ryan

This is governance by spreadsheet in pursuit of political capital, in which a hungry child or disabled person is merely a statisticIn the hours after Keir Starmer’s partial U-turn on the winter fuel allowance, there was much speculation about whether it would lead to other benefit cuts being reversed. As Labour announced it would change tack on support for pensioners, would the government still vote to cut disabled people’s personal independence payments next month? If the economy is improving and Starmer wants to “make sure people feel those improvements”, would the upcoming child poverty plan see the two-child benefit limit finally abolished?Perhaps. As was leaked quietly to the media last Friday, it appears the government isn’t bumping up its flagship child poverty strategy – it’s delaying it. After 14 years of Conservative austerity and rising prices, more than one in three children now live in poverty in the UK – the highest level this century. Ministers are due to announce a package of up to £750m to tackle this crisis in June, but any new measures have reportedly been pushed back until at least the autumn. As one source said of the reluctance of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney to scrap the two-child limit: “He doesn’t think they would be getting enough political capital with voters as a result of the money they would have to put in.”Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist. Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life is available from the Guardian Bookshop Continue reading...

Comments

Opinions

Steven Camley on the Hamilton by-election

The Herald

Daniel Levy's ridiculous decision to sack Ange Postecoglou is Tottenham's loss, writes CHRIS SUTTON - he will go and win silverware elsewhere

about 6 hours ago

Don’t let the Trump-Musk breakup harm ‘kids’ NASA and SpaceX

Newyork Post

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: What made Jane Seymour perfect for her 'virginal' James Bond role? And what did King Charles ask royal finance chief to investigate about Andrew?

about 23 hours ago

The Pride month vibes are off, but there's still hope.

NPR

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Children are being killed because we are too scared of being called racist. When will this dangerous madness end?

1 day ago

Dailymail

TOM UTLEY: Mrs U has a self-imposed hosepipe ban. But I don't know why she bothers when Thames Water wastes more than half a BILLION litres every day

1 day ago

Dailymail

JAN MOIR: Meghan's bizarre twerking in the delivery room is just the latest desperate bid for publicity from the Sussexes. Whatever happened to their pleas for privacy?

1 day ago

Dailymail

Billionaire oligarch's lover is thrown out of her home with her kids while a sports presenter hits back at 'horrific' criticism about her weight: RICHARD EDEN'S DIARY

1 day ago

Dailymail

ANDREW PIERCE: Reform's precocious political ingenue will be back, but there is deep trouble at the heart of Farage's party

1 day ago

A top MAGA defector has told me the REAL revenge Elon's plotting... it could destroy Trump's legacy: KENNEDY

Dailymail

Comments

Similar News

Shameful pic of French cops watching migrants sail to Britain proves we’ve got to take action to stop small boats

End of watch for ex-NYPD Commish Bernie Kerik, 1955-2025

After Watching Tom Cruise, I Need a Nap

Becky Barnicoat on the trials of watching season 2 – cartoon

As Gaza's children are bombed and starved, we watch - powerless. What is it doing to us as a society? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

What are the rarest Swatch watches - and is my fun investment hobby daft? DAN HATFIELD replies

Ursula found it hard to disguise her disbelief and glee at Deer Keer's cave-in: QUENTIN LETTS watches the Brussels big-shots swaggering around London

Avoid face cream and Nigel Farage to stay young but most importantly watch Eurovision

Thanks to Netflix, you will never watch this episode of Black Mirror ever again

Granderson: Watch for even small shifts in Texas politics. Sometimes tectonic movements follow

Opinions

Steven Camley on the Hamilton by-election

All change after Hamilton by-election but not perhaps in the way that anyone expects

So now you know, SNP: indy is not what people care about

Britain is Scottish: a truth from history that’s still true today

Cheers – of a kind – when Susan Calman went to the Glasgow pub

Major flights win is huge boost for Scottish airport

A rogues’ gallery of speed-demon city politicians

Prez-pardon problems go far beyond Joe Biden’s fishy signatures

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Why the death of the Tory Party has been greatly exaggerated

Daniel Levy's ridiculous decision to sack Ange Postecoglou is Tottenham's loss, writes CHRIS SUTTON - he will go and win silverware elsewhere

Don’t let the Trump-Musk breakup harm ‘kids’ NASA and SpaceX

The Chinese fungus-smuggling couple: Letters to the Editor — June 7, 2025

Letters to the Editor: Amid tree house standoff, 'what options do the unhoused have left?'

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Cancelled 'Dreaded Meghan' professor returns to arts role

Why Pres. Trump will win his battle against elite higher education

AI requires an explosion in power, both parties are losing ground and other commentary

ALEX BRUMMER: 'Wise old hen' Chancellor dances on a pinhead

Beware: The Human Rights Campaign is just a scam to push lefty issues

Keir Starmer is about as frightening as a stick of celery… but I’m more scared of him than Putin – here’s why

£4million a DAY migrant hotel bill will continue to spiral unless Labour does three things

Letter to the editor: Hey, those were my tax credits

Senate Judiciary Committee declassifies FBI's files outlining plot to undermine Trump

Our Operation Spider Web drone attack proves no one should count Ukraine out

How NYC is stepping up to stop attacks on Jews BEFORE they happen

How Scottish Labour’s ground war delivered victory in key by-election

Letter to the editor: Stop giving Iran more time

Letter to the editor: Five reasons U.S. should reengage with NATO

It’s not a shot that’s been fired across the SNP’s bows, it’s a cruise missile

Letters to the Editor: After Tom Girardi scandal, it's clear the State Bar of California needs reform

Jeremy Hunt: A Conservative-Reform coalition is “not going to happen”

It's time to stop the scaremongering over heat pumps

A vital debate for tertiary education sector

This is a set-back and an opportunity for the SNP - which one will they embrace?

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: What made Jane Seymour perfect for her 'virginal' James Bond role? And what did King Charles ask royal finance chief to investigate about Andrew?

The Pride month vibes are off, but there's still hope.

It's quaint the things you find in some people's bathrooms...

Best get used to it: Reform and indy will be at the heart of our debate for years

Edinburgh's West Town: A new city rising – or a chance slipping away?

I know frustration of commuting from Edinburgh's suburbs by bus. Here's my solution

Please tell us, Mr Swinney: how exactly would you defend Scotland?

HBO and the cursed child

Island of strangers? So who should we listen to on immigration?

Gun rights under fire

Ryan Routh, duct tape assassin

The Chinese spies among us

Trump and Rumble are at the center of the global battle for free expression

South Korea's tumult and what's at stake for America

We live in the land of the free because of the brave

Senate must advance SAVE Act

Christian baker's plight highlights California's disregard for First Amendment

Lefties furious at the ‘indignity’ of deporting illegal migrants should really blame the guy who let them all in

QUENTIN LETTS: So noble was the minister's school-meal pulpiteering, you'd think it was the abolition of slavery

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Children are being killed because we are too scared of being called racist. When will this dangerous madness end?

TOM UTLEY: Mrs U has a self-imposed hosepipe ban. But I don't know why she bothers when Thames Water wastes more than half a BILLION litres every day

JAN MOIR: Meghan's bizarre twerking in the delivery room is just the latest desperate bid for publicity from the Sussexes. Whatever happened to their pleas for privacy?

Billionaire oligarch's lover is thrown out of her home with her kids while a sports presenter hits back at 'horrific' criticism about her weight: RICHARD EDEN'S DIARY

ANDREW PIERCE: Reform's precocious political ingenue will be back, but there is deep trouble at the heart of Farage's party

A top MAGA defector has told me the REAL revenge Elon's plotting... it could destroy Trump's legacy: KENNEDY

New York City’s needed e-bike crackdown: Letters to the Editor — June 6, 2025

Fresh grounds to snap back Iran sanctions — and block it from getting a nuclear bomb