Sir Keir Starmer has attacked the Scottish Government’s record on tackling child poverty, saying the SNP needed to explain why numbers have increased during their time in office.

The Labour leader’s criticism came after Stephen Flynn used used Prime Minister’s Questions to ask about the two-child benefit cap.

Sir Keir saw off a rebellion on Monday night with just seven of his backbenchers supporting an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the welfare limit to be axed.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour MP denies party split over two-child benefit cap

The cap brought in by George Osborne means that households claiming child tax credit or universal credit are unable to claim for a third or subsequent child.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the policy currently affects two million children, with more hit each year because it applies to those born after April 5 2017.

Mr Flynn told MPs that during the election campaign the former prime minister Gordon Brown was on the front page of the Daily Record instructing “voters to vote Labour to end child poverty.”

“Yet last night Labour MPs from Scotland were instructed to retain the two-child cap which forces children into poverty. So Prime Minister, what changed?” he asked.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer replied: “I’m glad he mentioned Gordon Brown because the last Labour government lifted millions of children out of poverty, something we’re very very proud of and this Government will approach the question with the same vigour with our new task force.

“Already we’ve taken steps, breakfast clubs, abolishing no fault evictions, decent homes.”

Mr Flynn was then carpeted by by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle for holding a print out of the Daily Record front page.

Sir Lindsay told the SNP MP: “Props are not allowed to be used. Never mind put it down. We don’t need any more.”

Sir Keir continued: "I would just say this. Before he lectures everyone else, he should explain why, since the SNP came to power, there are 30,000 more children in poverty in Scotland."

The Labour leader was likely referring to recent statistics which showed more than 260,000 children were living in relative poverty in Scotland in 2022-23, up approximately 30,000 from the previous year after housing costs.

Later, the SNP MP Pete Wishart suggested Sir Keir's was "over before it's even begun."

“In less than three weeks, he has had a significant rebellion and he has suspended seven of his Members of Parliament, all for standing up for child poverty, this from a Labour Government," he said. 

Sir Keir replied that he would not be taking “lectures” from the SNP on what the people of Scotland want after the party returned from the General Election with a “handful” of members.

He added: “Perhaps the SNP needs to account for the 30,000 extra children in poverty in Scotland.”

READ MORE: Scotland’s child poverty targets at risk of being missed

It was Sir Keir’s first Prime Minister’s Questions since Labour’s victory at the general election. He told MPs that his ministers had inherited "crisis and a failure absolutely everywhere."

However, his exchanges with Rishi Sunak, now the leader of the opposition, were cordial and dominated by the UK’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

The former prime minister asked his successor to “be responsive to Ukraine’s new requests so that they don’t just stand still but can decisively win out against Russian aggression.”

Sir Keir replied: “I can assure him that we are of course talking to Ukraine about how they deal with the Russian aggression that they are facing, have been facing for many, many months, and I will continue to try to do that in the way that he did, which is to reach out across the House to share such information as we can to maintain the unity that is so important.”

Mr Sunak also said he “very much welcomes” words committing the UK Government to Ukraine’s “irreversible path” to Nato membership.

He urged Sir Keir to confirm “fatuous Russian claims on Ukrainian territory must not act as a block to Ukraine joining the Nato defensive alliance”.

The Prime Minister replied: “It is for Nato allies to decide who is a member of Nato.

“Formed 75 years ago, a proud and probably most successful alliance that’s ever been formed, and that’s why it was really important at the summit that we were able to say there is now this irreversible path to membership.

“That’s a step forward from a year ago, and President Zelensky was very pleased we’ve been able to make that successful transition.”

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.