Humza Yousaf has urged voters to vote SNP in the Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election to force a Labour rethink of the “cruel” two-child benefit cap.
The First Minister said Sir Keir Starmer had panicked after Labour failed to gain Uxbridge and South Ruislip in a by-election last month because of a single issue.
The Tories clung onto the seat, which was formerly held by Boris Johnson, by turning the vote into a referendum on the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
The £12.50 daily charge for polluting cars, pushed by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan, was widely blamed by the Labour hierarchy for the party’s failure in Uxbridge.
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Speaking to the SNP’s National Council in Perth later today, Mr Yousaf will claim that a Labour defeat in Rutherglen could lead to a Labour rethink on the two-child benefit cap.
Also known as the ‘rape clause’, the cap limits certain benefits to the first two children in a family unless any later child was conceived through rape.
Despite Labour describing the clause as “heinous”, Sir Keir recently refused to reverse it if Labour won the general election, saying the public finances were too fragile.
Mr Yousaf said: “Keir Starmer is making a political choice to keep tens of thousands of children in poverty.
“But in the upcoming by-election, people in Rutherglen and Hamilton West have a huge opportunity to force him to change course.
“As we saw with Labour’s defeat in Uxbridge, Keir Starmer is a politician that blows with the wind.
“A defeat for Labour there has caused him to panic and rethink his support for ULEZs.
“In Rutherglen and Hamilton West, people can force another U-turn - but this time, one that he would be right to make by reversing his policy on keeping cruel Tory policies.
“In Katy Loudon, the SNP has an excellent candidate - a former teacher with a track record of delivering for her community as a councillor.
“By backing the SNP, voters can also force Keir Starmer to rethink his plans to keep the Tory two-child cap and the abhorrent rape clause.”
However there are key differences between the two-child and ULEZ policies.
The July byelection took place before the ULEZ was extended from central London to commuter towns such as Uxbridge, and the result did not halt the policy.
Mr Khan pushed ahead regardless, albeit with a more generous scrappage scheme.
The two-child policy began in 2017 and is backed by half of Scots, according to a recent YouGov poll, with only a third wanting it to be scrapped.
The Child Poverty Action Group has reported the two-child limit affects the families of around 1,620 children in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, with 320 children ineligible for a Universal Credit element, and 180 ineligible for a child tax credit.
READ MORE: Salmond says Alba will not contest Rutherglen by-election
Meanwhile, Alex Salmond’s Alba party yesterday decided not to contest the Rutherglen by-election in order to avoid a further split in the pro-independence vote.
The Scottish Greens announced last week that they would contest the seat.
Unlike Ruislip, which has been Tory held for decades, Rutherglen has changed hands between Labour and the SNP repeatedly at recent elections.
The SNP gained it from Labour in 2015, lost it in 2017, then regained it in 2019.
The by-election was triggered by former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier, who had a majority of 5,230 in 2019, being ousted in Scotland’s first recall petition over Covid rule-breaking.
The by-election is expected to be held in the first half of October.
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