Former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock has called for the government to replace the two-child limit on means-tested benefits and fund the move with a levy on the wealthiest 1 % of Britons. Kinnock said scrapping the cap would lift roughly 600,000 children out of poverty and argued that a modest annual charge on large fortunes could offset the estimated £3.5 billion fiscal cost. The intervention comes as fresh data show the average chief executive of a FTSE-100 company earned £4.5 million last year, a figure Kinnock cited to underline widening income disparities. He suggested a 2 % tax on assets above £10 million, saying the public would regard the measure as a “fair” way to tackle poverty. Care minister Stephen Kinnock, the former leader’s son, told broadcasters that any change to the benefit cap or introduction of new taxes remains a matter for the Chancellor but confirmed that “conversations are ongoing” ahead of the autumn Budget. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has separately acknowledged the policy’s impact on hardship while warning that unwinding it would be expensive. The debate intensifies pressure on the governing Labour Party to clarify its anti-poverty strategy and tax stance before ministers outline a child-poverty plan later this year.