Reform UK would restore two-child benefit cap, Jenrick says in policy U-turn
Reform UK would restore the two-child benefit cap in full, Robert Jenrick has announced, in a major U-turn for the party that critics said would plunge hundreds of thousands of children into poverty,In his first speech as Reform’s Treasury spokesperson, Jenrick said the party had changed tack since Nigel Farage last year said he would scrap the two-child limit and suggested his party wanted to go “much further to encourage people to have children”,As part of a full-frontal attack on benefits, Jenrick also said the Motability scheme, which enables disabled people to lease a new car, scooter or powered wheelchair to help them be independent, would be reformed to “end abuse” where “expensive cars are handed out for conditions like tennis elbow and paid for by working people who can’t afford those cars themselves”,Jenrick also said only British nationals would be able to claim benefits under a Reform UK government, and people claiming benefits for “mild anxiety, depression, and similar conditions” would be stopped,Those with mental health issues would have to have a clinical diagnosis “to weed out those who are choosing a life on benefits”.
During his speech in the City of London, Jenrick appeared to indicate he had played a part in the shift in policy, stating: “We want to help working families have more children.But right now, we just cannot afford to do so with welfare.So it has to go.“And as Reform’s shadow chancellor, I’m ending it.A Reform government will restore the [two-child benefit] cap in full.
”Asked what a Reform government would do to help the 4,5 million children living in poverty, Jenrick said the party wanted to ensure “that people can have kids”, but “we can’t just do that by spending more and more on benefits”,He added: “Someone has to instil some realism into this business,”Responding to the announcement, Keir Starmer called the move “shameful”,Writing on social media, the prime minister said: “I’m incredibly proud that this government has scrapped the cruel two-child limit.
Reform wants to push hundreds of thousands of children into poverty,”Asked about the U-turn after the press conference, Farage, the Reform UK leader, said he had only wanted to lift the two-child cap for working British families, but his attempts at being “pro-family” had “failed” and resulted in his being labelled a socialist,However, in a move to allay market fears, Jenrick appeared to soften the party’s stance on its major financial institutions,He said the independence of the Bank of England would remain and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) would not be abolished,Jenrick’s stance appeared at odds with previous statements from Farage, who has been calling for politicians to have greater influence on the central bank, which was made independent in 1997 by the then chancellor, Gordon Brown.
Farage has also suggested he would replace its governor, Andrew Bailey, and impose his own choice if he were to become prime minister, and said he was giving “serious thought” to scrapping the OBR.At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Farage said he “didn’t like banks” and would scrap the interest payments lenders receive through the BoE’s quantitative easing programme.In November, he and his deputy, Richard Tice, made a U-turn on a plan to dole out £90bn in tax cuts, which the party had promised in its 2024 election manifesto.Jenrick said the party was promising “fiscal stability” combined with “radical reform”, and under a Reform government the Bank of England would be stripped of any role in moving the UK towards a sustainable future and “distractions which have been loaded on to it”.Efforts to move towards net zero had become a “distraction” for the Bank, he said, and he would change the body by paying high wages to “super forecasters” who “most accurately model the impact of Treasury decisions”.
But while Jenrick – who only left the Conservative frontbench last month – accused the OBR of overestimating the benefits of low-skilled migration, he said Reform UK was “happy to have its homework marked”.“The OBR is far from perfect, but the impetus for its creation was a desire to instil fiscal discipline and that is something we wholeheartedly endorse,” he said.The Treasury minister, Dan Tomlinson, accused Jenrick of “trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes” and said Reform had made billions of pounds in unfunded spending commitments.The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, said Reform UK was “not serious” on the economy.“Jenrick claims Reform are happy to have their homework marked, yet they still haven’t explained the £10.
5bn black hole in their pubs plan, and when challenged on it, they said they were ‘not interested in the numbers’,” he said.
The disturbing rise of Clavicular: how a looksmaxxer turned his ‘horror story’ into fame
His gonzo argot of ‘mogging’ and ‘jestermaxxing’ masks a malign chauvinist philosophy, and his audience keeps growingHow’s your “jestermaxxing” game? Have you been “brutally frame-mogged” lately? If you’ve been finding this kind of online discourse even more impenetrable than usual, a 20-year-old content creator calling himself Clavicular is probably to blame.Born Braden Peters, Clavicular is a manosphere-adjacent influencer who has recently broken containment for a string of high-profile controversies, including livestreaming himself apparently running over a pedestrian with his Tesla Cybertruck and being filmed chanting the lyrics to Kanye West’s Heil Hitler in a nightclub with the self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and the white nationalist commentator Nick Fuentes.Before taking up with what some feel are among the worst men alive, Clavicular was known only as a “looksmaxxer”, a young man intent on optimising his physical attractiveness by frequently extreme measures (such as steroids, surgery and, er, taking a hammer to his jaw).Yet Clavicular’s gonzo live streams and absurd lingo have seen him escape his subcultural silo, landing him a modelling gig at New York fashion week and a profile in the New York Times.So where has he come from? And what does his rise mean for humanity?Peters came to prominence last year on the streaming platform Kick (like Twitch, but more laissez-faire with content moderation), where he now has nearly 180,000 followers
Ministers may slow youth minimum wage rise amid UK unemployment fears
Ministers are considering a slower rise in the minimum wage for younger workers, amid fears over rising youth unemployment.Labour had promised in its manifesto to equalise national minimum wage rates by the time of the next election, saying it was unfair younger workers were paid less. Government sources said equalisation remained the aim but the rise could come more slowly.At the current rates, those between 18 and 20 are paid a minimum of £10 an hour, rising to £12.21 an hour for those over 21
Brazilian butt lifts should be banned in UK amid ‘wild west’ industry, MPs say
Brazilian butt lifts should be banned in the UK, MPs have said, as a report found a lack of regulation had led to a “wild west” of cosmetic procedures being carried out in garden sheds, hotel rooms and public toilets.The women and equalities committee (WEC) said high risk procedures such as non-surgical buttock augmentation should be outlawed immediately, and a licensing system for lower risk treatments was urgently needed. People with no training can carry out potentially harmful procedures, putting the public at risk, the group of MPs added.A nine-month inquiry by the committee also found ministers were not moving quickly enough to tackle the risks posed to Britons and recommended they “accelerate regulatory action”. The lack of timely action was “fostering complacency in self-regulation” within the industry, they cautioned
UK shoppers warned over spread of harmful and illegal skin lightening kits
Illegal skin lightening products are being sold in an increasingly wide range of UK outlets, including butchers, specialist food shops and small grocery stores, trading standards officers have warned.The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is warning that many of the products contain substances that are banned because of the serious risks they pose to health, including skin damage, infections and pregnancy complications.Officers say that, as well as online, they are finding them more frequently in Asian and Arab stores, plus specialist butchers and grocery stores for other diverse communities, whom the products are primarily targeted at.Tendy Lindsay, former chair of the CTSI, said: “As a Black woman and a longstanding advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion, I want to be absolutely clear: the sale of illegal skin lightening products is not only dangerous, it is unlawful.“Many of these products contain banned substances such as high levels of hydroquinone, mercury or potent corticosteroids
‘It’s soul-crushing’: young people battle to find any work in bleak jobs market
On any given day, Poppy Blackman is engaged in the “soul-crushing” process of applying for a new job, and rarely ever hearing anything back.The 22-year-old has been unemployed since January 2025 and says she applies to an average of 50 roles a month, using one of four different CVs she has written for different types of jobs and sectors.“I can’t be picky with what I want to apply for,” says Blackman, who lives in London. She studied fashion and art design at North Kent College but has given up on only applying within this sector.“Not a day goes by when I don’t apply for at least a few jobs,” she says
Fostering target brings hope for thousands of children | Letter
Re your editorial (The Guardian view on fostering: reform is welcome, but excess profits must be tackled, 10 February), I’ll never forget the midnight feast that nobody ate. Four children sat shellshocked in my lounge, having just been removed from their home. They didn’t know or trust us. We tried our best to make them feel comfortable with cookies, doughnuts and crisps, but it would take several days before they were ready to tuck into treats.Fostering has been one of the biggest privileges for my wife and me over the past 20 years
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