Gordon Brown 'confident' of two-child benefit cap change - as he calls for gambling tax

Gordon Brown has said helium is "confident" the two-child payment headdress volition alteration astatine the budget, arsenic helium ramped up unit connected Rachel Reeves to enforce a gambling taxation to wage for it.

The erstwhile Labour premier minister, and chancellor for 10 years, has been advocating to scrap the cap, which means parents tin lone assertion benefits for their archetypal 2 children.

But arsenic the fund approaches connected 26 November, helium ramped up those calls connected Sky News' Mornings with Ridge and Frost - and suggested a gambling taxation to money getting escaped of the cap.

Mr Brown said: "I americium assured that the two-child regularisation volition beryllium addressed.

"We're waiting for Rachel Reeves's budget, which I deliberation volition notation this.

"Keir Starmer, I cognize is personally acrophobic and funny successful this.

"So I'm hopeful that successful the adjacent fewer weeks we'll spot the benignant of enactment that we've been talking about."

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The Child Poverty Action Group has said each time the two-child headdress remains successful place, 109 much children are pulled into poorness by the policy.

It recovered that scrapping the argumentation would instantly assistance 350,000 children retired of poverty, astatine a outgo of £2bn and would trim the extent of poorness for different 800,000 children.

Mr Brown, who has had a beardown absorption connected eliminating kid poorness since leaving parliament, besides pushed for the authorities to enforce a taxation connected gambling companies.

"We taxation cigarettes astatine 80%, we taxation intoxicant astatine 70%, but the online gambling taxation is 21%. So there's a large lawsuit for change," helium told Sky News.

"I deliberation they [gambling companies] could good spend to wage a taxation - and I privation that wealth to spell to kid poverty.

"So, determination the wealth from, if you like, the bad, by taxing it.

"And enactment it to good, which is children taken retired of poverty."

Read more: What taxation rises and spending cuts volition Reeves denote astatine the budget?

The two-child payment headdress has proved a large sticking constituent for Labour since they won a landslide predetermination triumph past year.

Just 2 weeks aft coming to power, Sir Keir suspended 7 Labour MPs for six months for voting to scrap the cap.

Feelings astir it stay beardown successful the party, but it would mean uncovering billions of pounds erstwhile the chancellor is already scrambling for savings - and the argumentation is mostly fashionable with the public.

The latest YouGov polling recovered 59% of the nationalist are successful favour of keeping the headdress successful place, and lone 26% thought it should beryllium abolished.