Rishi Sunak has welcomed Sir Keir Starmer’s support for the two-child benefit limit, as the Tories and SNP moved to exploit divisions in Labour over the money-saving measure.

There have been fierce arguments in the party in recent days, ever since the leader of the opposition confirmed that he would not scrap the cap and the so-called rape clause. 

The two-child policy was introduced by George Osborne in his 2015 budget, coming into effect two years later. 

It means that households claiming child tax credit or universal credit are unable to claim for a third or subsequent child born after 6 April 2017.

There is an exemption for families where that third or subsequent child is the result of “non-consensual conception.”

However, the only way this can be claimed is for the mother to disclose their rape to the Department for Work and Pensions.

 

READ MORE: Two-child benefit cap Scotland: 'more than 80,000 affected'

The SNP's Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, raised the cap during Prime Minister's Questions. 

He told the Commons: “The two-child benefit cap as introduced by the Conservative Party has left 250,000 children living in poverty.

"So can I ask the Prime Minister does he take comfort in knowing that the heinous legacy of that policy will no longer just be protected by Conservative members but by Labour members too?”

Mr Sunak replied: “I welcome the Labour leader's new found support for our policy, even though he previously committed to a different approach. 

“But what I would say to the honourable gentleman and indeed the Labour front bench is that they don't have to worry too much because given the Labour leader’s track record, he's never actually kept a promise that he's made.”

Mr Flynn said Scots voters were “used to child poverty under the Tories.”

“They almost expect it,” he added. “But what they don't expect is child poverty support from the Labour Party. 

“If we look very closely right now, there is a shiver running along the Labour front bench looking for a spine.  

“Does this not tell us something much bigger? That for children living in poverty in Scotland, Westminster offers them no real change, it offers them no real hope?”

READ MORE: Sarwar backs Starmer over two child benefit cap u-turn

The Prime Minister told the SNP politician that the best way to stop children growing up in poverty was “to ensure that they do not grow up in a workless household.” 

“That's why we're focused on creating more jobs with 200,000 more in Scotland since 2010, and hundreds of thousands fewer children across the United Kingdom growing up in a workless household. 

“We will always continue to reduce child poverty. I don't want to see a single child grow up in poverty and we will deliver that in every part of the UK including in Scotland.”

Later, the SNP’s Pete Wishart said there was “no real difference now between the two UK main parties.”

He said the Commons should be rearranged so both parties could sit “on one big bench.”

Mr Sunak defended his government’s track record. “There are now 400,000 fewer children in poverty than there were in 2010 as a result of the actions of this government, noticeably moving their parents into work because it has the single best benefit for those children.”

Tory MP Lee Anderson described the two-child cap as Sir Keir’s “new flagship policy.”

READ MORE: Sarwar defends Starmer's unwillingness to scrap two-child benefit cap

Earlier in the day, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted tackling child poverty would be a priority for an incoming Labour government. 

She said the party was set to have “the most dire economic inheritance of any incoming government” and could not promise to spend the estimated £2bn on scrapping the cap. 

Ms Reeves told the BBC’s Today programme: “The level of debt in the UK economy is the same size as everything we produce in the economy on an annual basis. Our interest rates and inflation are a staggering high levels and our economy is barely growing."

She added: “It is our duty to get control of the public finances and ensure we’ve got a stable economy. It’s not a ‘nice to have’, it is the rock of stability upon which all other policies have to be built.

“There will be nothing in a Labour manifesto there’s not fully costed and fully funded.”