THE so-called rape clause will be a lasting “stain” on the Tory party, Nicola Sturgeon has said, after official figures showed 190 women were forced to recount attacks to get benefits.

The First Minister was responding to the release of “horrifying” statistics from HMRC and the Department of Work and Pensions about the first year of the controversial policy.

The measure involves limiting child tax credits to the first two children in a family, unless a third or subsequent child was conceived through rape or in a coercive relationship.

Women who wish to claim under the “non consensual exception”, dubbed the rape clause by its critics, must sign a form telling the government about their ordeal to qualify.

The new figures showed 190 women using the exception after a year of the policy, ten of them in Scotland claiming child tax credit, which can be worth £2780 per child a year.

At First Minister’s Questions, SNP MSP Gail Ross asked Ms Sturgeon if she agreed no woman should have to relive a rape to get benefits, and if the clause should be scrapped.

Ms Sturgeon said the statistics were “really horrifying”, and brought home the impact of a policy which MSPs had largely debated in the abstract until now.

“Today, we see evidence for the first time of the real-life impact of the two-child cap and the rape clause on real women - 190 across the United Kingdom, 10 of them in Scotland.

“Those women are having to disclose the fact that they have been raped and that that rape led to the conception of their child in order to access state support for that child.

“That is horrifying, grotesque and a stain on the reputation of the Conservatives and the Conservative Government at Westminster.

“The sooner we get rid of the two-child cap and the rape clause, the better. As First Minister, I say that as long as I am First Minister there will never, ever be such policies in Scotland.”

Defending the figures in the Commons, Work and Pensions Minister Kit Malthouse said: "We keep all our policies under constant review. People on welfare have to take the same decisions as those that are in work. That includes making decisions about the number of children that they may or may not have."

He went on: "We are trying to be as sensitive as we possibly can in this. At the moment no-one needs to make a specific declaration - we can signpost and assist with people getting the support they need.

"We are obviously very keen to hear from third-party organisations who have been working with those women who are subject to that appalling situation to make sure they get the support that they need."