BBC Radio Scotland's flagship news programme has been carpeted by bosses after erroneously claiming Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar wanted the two child benefit cap scrapped, and then failing to publicly admit their mistake.

In a discussion about the party's approach to the contentious welfare policy, a presenter said: “We also know though, in terms of internal Labour party management, the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said he would like to see the two child cap scrapped immediately as well”.

A listener complained this was inaccurate, and that while Mr Sarwar wanted the cap to be scrapped, he had argued that it could not be done until the financial situation improved.

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The BBC's Executive Complaints Unit upheld the complaint "in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy."

In a report published on the BBC's website, the unit said: "Although some commentators had discerned a difference of emphasis, or even a split, between the position of the Scottish Labour Party and the Prime Minister on this issue, the ECU found no evidence that Mr Sarwar has said the cap should be scrapped immediately, and agreed there had been a breach of the BBC’s standards of accuracy.

"The ECU noted that this had been acknowledged by BBC Scotland in correspondence with the complainant.

"The usual expectation, however, is that missteps of this kind will be acknowledged publicly by the BBC. As that had not happened in this instance, the ECU upheld the complaint."

They said the finding of their investigation was "reported to the management of BBC Scotland and discussed with the programme-makers concerned."

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.

The only exemption for families is if a third child is the result of “non-consensual conception.”

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.

Next year, 250,000 more children will be affected, rising to 670,000 before the end of the next parliament.

When fully rolled out, it will affect one in five children, rising to 38% of those in the poorest fifth of households.

Mr Sarwar has described the policy as a "heinous policy that is doing damage to families across the country and that it is exacerbating poverty."

During the election campaign, he said: "I know that my colleagues in the UK party continue to believe that as well.

"But what they are being up front and straight about is we have to look at the financial circumstances that we’ll find ourselves in."