If Labour scraps the two-child limit, it won’t be because Nigel Farage showed them the path of righteousness.

Bridget Phillipson, the UK education secretary, has given the strongest indication yet that it could go, saying “the “cost of inaction” would be “incredibly high”.

Her comments came after Nigel Farage said he would scrap the limit, but there were already signs Labour was preparing to move on it, having delayed the publication of their much-anticipated child poverty strategy until the autumn. Farage’s move, targeting Labour supporters, just adds to the pressure ministers were already under.

What Labour did about this Conservative policy was always going to be the key left-wing virility test of Keir Starmer’s government. It speaks to Labour’s values like no other policy, at a time when there’s growing confusion and disquiet about what the party stands for.

If Labour jettisoned the two-child limit – at an estimated annual cost of £3.5bn – it would help placate backbench critics dismayed by disability benefit cuts and the scrapping of the winter fuel payment. More importantly, it would give voters a clearer picture of what this government is really about.

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