We built a cruel system to fight an imaginary enemy
Max Mosley writes for the New Statesman
12 December 2025
Max Mosley wrote for the New Statesman about how the two-child limit punished working families to fight welfare fraud that barely exists:
“We are stuck in the political logic of the 2010s. We cannot discuss benefits without summoning the figure of the workshy. Even when a single move would lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, critics cannot let go of the worry that someone, somewhere, not currently working might benefit. We have developed a national obsession with social security – one that grew to toxic levels over a decade ago when the 2010 austerity government went hard on reforms. Those reforms – from more work searching requirements to the two-child limit – required a moral justification beyond the immediate need to save money.”
