West Yorkshire mayor says too many families are ‘working poor’

West Yorkshire’s mayor says scrapping the two-child benefit cap will help families that have jobs but still struggle to make ends meet.

Labour’s Tracy Brabin has been answering questions on Message the Mayor on BBC Radio Leeds.

She has also been talking about when work will resume on the White Rose station in Leeds, her recent trip to Brazil and taxing tourists who visit Yorkshire.

Read our takeaways from the interview below or listen to the full interview here.

“For various circumstances, you might have three children, but just because you have three means you are poorer as a family – it is absolutely shaming.

“In some communities in West Yorkshire, 50% of children are living in poverty. How on Earth are they going to take up the opportunities as we grow the economy if their start in life is so difficult?”

In last week’s Budget, the chancellor scrapped a rule that means parents can only claim Universal Credit or tax credits for their first two children.

“I think this Budget is actually quite revolutionary. It has empowered mayors.

“Andy Burnham [Mayor of Greater Manchester] was talking last week about the growth of Greater Manchester being greater than the national average and outstripping London. Who was second? West Yorkshire.”

Following the Budget, more parts of England will be given “integrated” settlements – meaning all their funding from the government goes into one big pot, and mayors will decide how it is spent.

Brabin was asked about new powers to bring in a modest charge for overnight visitors.

“I think it’s fair that people pay a tiny amount of money when they come.

“And then that money will be invested in big events, or infrastructure support like better buses.

“If you look at York and North Yorkshire, for Mayor David Skaith, it is in the tens of millions of pounds that he could spend on transport – but we have had 73 million visitors to West Yorkshire in the last year.

“We have some real jewels in the crown in Ilkley, Shipley and Haworth, so a little bit of money will make it better for everyone.”

“I am desperate to sort this out. I know the longer it stays closed the more it is going to cost us.

“It was an agreement before my time as mayor and, quite frankly, we’d never do this again in the way we are doing it.”

Work stopped on the White Rose station in Leeds in 2024. It is a project jointly funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and private company Munroe K.

The mayor hopes contractors will be back in 2026 – but she says she cannot promise.

Brabin faced criticism on social media for going to a climate summit in Brazil that took place ahead of the COP30 conference.

“I was invited by [former New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg with other mayors from across the globe to discuss what mayors can do to tackle the climate emergency.”

The mayor says it was a “real opportunity” to help create jobs in the climate economy, which she says is worth £8bn to the region.