THE SNP has called for the Scottish Tory's welfare spokeswoman to resign after she said poor people on benefits cannot have as many children as they like.

Michelle Ballantyne, a mother of six, was widely condemned after defending the two-child limit on tax credits during a Holyrood debate on poverty and inequality.

The so-called “rape clause” denies some benefit to mothers with more than two children unless they declare one was the result of rape.

Ms Ballantyne said: "The two-child limit is about fairness. It is fair that people on benefits cannot have as many children as they like while people who work and pay their way and do not claim benefits have to make decisions about the number of children they can have. Fairness means fairness to everybody, not to one part of the community."

Nicola Sturgeon condemned her language as “appalling and ignorant", and her party has now insisted Ms Ballantyne is unfit to remain welfare spokeswoman.

The acting leader of the Scottish Tories, Jackson Carlaw, said Ms Ballantyne's remarks were “clumsy” and insensitive.

He said: “I think she herself accepts the language that she used was clumsy and was not sensitive to the situation.

“I don't think it represented Michelle's broader view on what is a very serious subject and it has been interesting to me the number of people that have commented on it.

“It's very important that the whole area of welfare benefits that we seek to make them as fair for people as we can.

“I think she's already expressed her regret about the way she actually expressed herself in that intervention [during the debate].”

Asked if he had spoken to her about it, Mr Carlaw said: “Yes I have. I said to her these things can happen. It has happened to me in the past as well.

“You sometimes just get hit with an intervention [during a debate] and you express yourself in a way that you subsequently have cause to regret.

“Michelle has had a lifetime of interest in this subject, she is not ignorant of the issues in hand.

“But I think in the way that she expressed herself, she herself accepts that her language was clumsy and it was open to interpretation.”

Ms Ballantyne previously refused to apologise for her comments, and accused critics of having an “emotional reaction”.

SNP MSP Tom Arthur said it was the one of the most disgraceful speeches he had heard in parliament since being elected in 2016.

He insisted: "Michelle Ballantyne’s position as Tory welfare spokesperson is completely untenable."

During First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said: “I think the comments that were made by Michelle Ballantyne in this chamber yesterday were both appalling and also ignorant of the reality.

“Appalling because the idea that being poor should be a barrier to having a family is Dickensian, and I think shows the Scottish Conservatives in their true colours.

“The comments were also ignorant because of course the rape clause won’t just apply when children are first born.

“From next year, it will apply to children of any age should their family circumstances change so that they need to claim benefits.

“To defend the rape clause misses the point that any of us can have our circumstances change at any time.

“What Michelle Ballantyne seems to be suggesting is that if that happens to a family who perhaps had three children while they were all in work, and suddenly fall into different circumstances, those children should be penalised as a result.

“It is absolutely shameful. The social security safety net is there for all of us should we need it in times of distress or times of changed circumstances. And frankly shame on the Conservatives that they are dismantling that social security safety net.”