The Pygge detects a rift at the top of Reform over the two-child benefit cap and Northern Powerhouse Rail. Yesterday a group of northern mayors and council leaders sent an open letter to Rachel Reeves setting out their shopping list of demands from her before the Budget.
These included the full repeal of the cap and the delivery, in full, of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project. The names of Luke Campbell, the Reform mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, and Stephen Atkinson, the Reform leader of Lancashire council, both appeared as signatories to the letter.
It seems to mark a disagreement with party leader Nigel Farage, who said last week that he was not in favour of a full repeal. Instead he said he would only lift the cap for UK nationals in families where both parents were in work.
That was a part-reversal of what he said earlier this year: “we believe lifting the two child cap is the right thing to do – not because we support a benefits culture, but because we believe for lower paid workers this actually makes having children just a little bit easier for them.”
The cap was introduced by the Conservatives in 2017. Several anti-poverty charities and many Labour MPs have pushed for its repeal.
The call for Northern Powerhouse Rail is another apparent breach with Reform’s leadership. Richard Tice, the deputy leader, said in September Reform would scrap the proposed NPR link from Liverpool to Manchester (those remarks led to a spat with Andy Burnham).
The letter to Reeves – also signed by Labour and Lib Dem politicians – read: “We are united in our call for you to lift the two-child benefit cap – a policy change that would lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, including over 100,000 in the North.
“Many Northern communities are disproportionately affected by the two-child benefit cap, with higher rates of child poverty. Its impact is most acute in areas of entrenched disadvantage. Reversing the cap would lift around 630,000 children out of poverty nationwide – with the North seeing the greatest impact. It is one of the most cost-effective and immediate levers to reduce poverty and unlock opportunity. We must act. The children of the North cannot wait.”
While the letter cites a figure of 630,000 children being lifted out of poverty, which would only be the case under a full repeal of the cap, the Pygge has been told this is still “broadly in line” with Farage’s position.
A Reform source told the Pygge: “Our policy would encourage families to work and lift children out of poverty, so the direction of travel in the letter is broadly in line with our proposals, but importantly we would only support lifting the cap for working families.”
On Northern Powerhouse Rail, they added: “Individuals within the party will understandably have differences of opinion over Northern Powerhouse Rail. We believe that is part and parcel of a healthy and functioning policy-making process.”
But Atkinson has declared himself stumped. While his signature apparently appears at the bottom of the letter alongside Campbell’s, the Reform council leader has said he doesn’t know how it got there. He is now investigating to find out what has happened. Docusign malfunction or otherwise, the Pygge looks forward to his explanation.
[Further reading: Terror definition too broad, Starmer to be told]
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