THE SNP promised to abandon the “pernicious” ceiling of allowances for two children in Scotland, as he challenged Labor to help end the policy north of the border.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison made surprise pledge as she leaves the Scottish Government’s budget at Holyroodsaying the cap had “caused misery” to families.

Anti-poverty charities have long called for an end to the “cruel” cap imposed across the UK by the Conservatives in 2017which prevents parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child.

Robison condemned Sir Keir Starmer’s government for failing to abandon the cap and said she would now start working to end the policy for Scottish families “as soon as possible in 2026”.

She suggested the SNP would “mitigate” the cap by providing discretionary top-up payments to families with more than two children, but did not specify exactly how the devolved administration would do this.

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Although some benefits are devolved to Scotland, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for the corresponding welfare benefits: Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit.

Robison said the Scottish Government would work to implement it throughout next year so that the project could be abandoned in Scotland in early 2026, and would request relevant benefit data from the DWP.

“Have no doubt: the cap will be removed,” Robison told Holyrood. “My challenge to Labor is to work with us – to join us in ending the cap in Scotland. »

She added: “Let me be very clear: this (SNP) Government is ending the two-child benefit cap and in doing so will lift more than 15,000 Scottish children out of poverty. »

Low-income Scottish parents are already benefiting an extra £26 per week for each child under 16 via the Scottish Child Paymentintroduced by the SNP in 2021.

The so-called Barnett formula – which determines the block grant the UK government gives to Scotland – means that Scots benefit from per capita public spending above the UK average.

The Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland welcomed the adoption of the two-child cap, but warned that poorer families “really can’t wait until 2026”. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the SNP’s announcement was “a positive recognition that policy choices can reduce poverty”.

It came as Robison confirmed that all pensioners in Scotland will receive a £100 winter heating payment next year in a further attempt to embarrass Labour, following Chancellor Rachel’s decision Reeves to scrap universal winter fuel payments in England and Wales.

The Finance Secretary also announced that health and social care will receive a record £21 billion in funding in 2025-26, a spending increase of £2 billion.

Robison said this would mean that by March 2026, no one in Scotland will wait more than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day treatment.

It followed Audit Scotland’s damning report this week, which warned there were “no clear plans” to reduce waiting times and some NHS services may even have to be cut.

The SNP also lifted the council tax freeze, allowing cash-strapped local authorities to increase the levy in a bid to avoid cuts to vital services.

Robison announced a £1 billion increase for local authorities for next year – but urged town halls to keep any increase for bill payers as low as possible. “There is no reason to sharply increase council tax next year.”

After controversial changes to Scotland’s income tax rates in last year’s Budget, asking higher earners to pay more, Robison said current rates and bands would now be frozen until 2026 .

The SNP will still face difficult weeks trying to pass the budget. Two MPs short of securing a working majority, John Swinney’s party is relying on either the Scottish Liberal Democrats or the Scottish Greens to pass its economic plan in a crucial vote in February.

The Greens have said they cannot support the SNP’s budget as things stand. Finance spokesman Ross Greer said the plans did not go far enough to protect local services or tackle the climate crisis, but said his party was “ready to work with the SNP” to bring improvements in the coming weeks.

Lib Dem leader Alex-Cole Hamilton welcomed the extra spending on social care, dental care and mental health, but said his party needed time to consider whether to support the budget. “This does not guarantee our support. As with all budgets, the devil is in the details,” he said.

Scottish Labour, who are not expected to support the budget, said the SNP had benefited from an extra £5bn for Scotland from Reeves’ budget but had failed to deliver needed reforms of the NHS nor a vision of economic growth.

“This budget amounts to more of the same, sending Scotland even faster in the wrong direction,” said Labor finance spokesman Michael Marra.

The Scottish Conservatives also condemned the budget, calling it “more of the same from the SNP”. Finance spokesman Craig Hoy said voters would be disappointed by the lack of tax cuts.