𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The star of channel 4’s Benefits Street has warned of the perils of benefits reliance after the Government announced plans to remove the two-child benefit cap. Dierdre Kelly, who became one of the most recognisable figures on the show, which prompted serious discussion on the so-called “benefits culture” in Britain, believes the policy aids many people who are “just using the system.”

Kelly told the Daily Mail: “It’s the culture. If it’s there, you get it. And then it becomes no longer for just people who need it. That’s how society has let things become. I’m really torn on this one. It’s because I see it from the cost-of-living side.

“I see the hardship, I see the poverty, I see the kids going into school without food, families who are really struggling.

“But I can also see the other side now. We open the floodgates to people who are just using the system. Because they’ve now been allowed to use the system.”

The cap, introduced in 2017, has long provoked the ire of Labour MPs, with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves enduring significant pressure from the left of their party to remove the cap since taking office in 2024.

The swell of support within the Labour Parliamentary Party is not matched amongst society as a whole, with 58% of those polled by YouGov stating that they believed the cap should remain in place.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has criticised the decision, accusing the Government of increasing taxes on working people in order to fund the cap’s removal at an estimated cost of £3.1 billion up until 2029/30.

He told the BBC: “When it comes to the size of the family that you decide you are going to have, and if you want a large family, then those who are working hard and paying taxes are having to take those difficult decisions as to whether they can afford a large family or not.

“I think that it is only fair that those that are on benefits face the same kind of decisions as those that are working hard paying taxes and paying for those benefits.”

Despite finding fame on a show where people openly bragged about living off the state, Kelly, believes that the budget fails to show Labour in a positive light.

She added: “Obviously since Labour came in, the whole world thought Keir Starmer is the man for the job, [and] have our backs. Big mistake that was wasn’t it?

“You can see where people are coming from, the harder they work the more tax the Government are now going to be taking off them.

“I think they only released the manifesto for the sake of getting people to vote and then they just don’t do anything they said they were going to do.”