Scrapping two-child benefit cap may be harder after welfare U-turn, minister says

Bridget Phillipson stresses that changes to welfare bill after threatened rebellion by backbench MPs have come at a cost

Downing Street's U-turn on changes to welfare last week will make it harder to implement other policies such as potentially scrapping the two-child benefit cap, Bridget Phillipson has said.

The education minister said Labour was still committed to tackling child poverty but, when asked whether the backbench rebellion that resulted in about 5bn of annual savings on welfare being scrapped had diminished the chances of the cap being removed, she said it would have an impact.