'It’s Corbynism in a different colour!' Mel Stride likens Nigel Farage to former Labour leader in scathing attack over two-child benefit cap

Speaking this morning, Farage said: "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.

"It’s not a silver bullet, it doesn’t solve all of those problems. But it helps them."

Responding to this, Stride told The Spectator: "Farage has announced billions in unfunded commitments with fantasy ways to pay for them. It’s Corbynism in a different colour."

Corbyn, who led Labour from 2015 to 2020, has long supported the removal of the cap.

Last year, the Islington North MP said: "The two-child benefit limit is cruel, immoral and ineffective. Keeping children in poverty is not a tough choice — it’s the wrong choice."

The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have also called for the cap to be lifted, with Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP saying "the heartless two-child limit has to go – no ifs, no buts."

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However, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has insisted the policy remains "right" and "fair." She told Sky News: "Nigel Farage and Keir Starmer are just saying things to people – they’re not doing what is right. I am saying what is the right thing to do – it may not be popular, but it is absolutely the right thing to do."

Meanwhile, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told The Telegraph: "The two-child benefit cap doesn’t refer to child benefit. That benefit is available to all parents for all their children. It refers to those on universal credit.

"They received thousands of pounds on top of their child benefit for their first two children. The cap stops them receiving even more for their third, fourth and fifth child and so on.

"Why? Because allowing families to have children that they can’t afford while prudent savers who do the right thing are forced to wait wasn’t right. The two-child benefits cap is in place as a matter of fairness."

Speaking to GB News this morning before Farage's speech, Stride said: "He is going to stand up and say that they would reinstate the winter fuel payments, that they would also abolish the two child limit

"[This means] that if you have more than two children on benefits, the taxpayer will pay benefits towards the cost of those decisions. And these are big spending commitments."

He added: "What Nigel Farage is doing is just simply running around saying, well, everybody can have whatever they want, including lots of tax cuts.

"If he gets into government with that approach, the markets are going to run a mile."