JEREMY Corbyn will today commit a future Labour government to abolishing the so-called ‘rape clause’ as part of a wider roll back of Tory welfare cuts.
Launching his party’s manifesto in Manchester, the Labour leader will vow to end the “abhorrent” policy, which came into effect last month.
The rape clause refers to an exemption from the new two-child cap on child tax credit.
Women who have had a later child as a result of rape, or during a coercive relationship, are allowed to claim extra benefit if they recount their ordeal to a third party professional.
They must also name their child as part of completing an eight-page form about the rape.
Politicians of all Holyrood parties bar the Conservatives have condemned the policy as a grotesque invasion into the lives of rape survivors and called for it to be scrapped.
The draft Labour manifesto, leaked last week, did not mention the rape clause, although it did refer to the two child cap.
It said: “We will review the cuts to work allowances in Universal Credit, and also review the decision to limit tax credit and Universal Credit payments to the first two children in a family."
However the Herald can reveal the manifesto was subsequently revised to include a commitment to scrapping the clause, a move pushed for by Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale.
Ms Dugdale last month silenced a Holyrood debate on the clause by reading a letter from a woman who had a child from rape and said she might have killed herself if she had been obliged to recount her ordeal to strangers to qualify for benefits.
The new manifesto text will say: “The cuts to work allowances in Universal Credit (UC), and the decision to limit tax credit and UC payments to the first two children in a family, are an attack on low-income families and will increase child poverty. Labour will reform and redesign UC, ending six-week delays in payment and the ‘rape clause’.”
Mr Corbyn said: “Labour will end the abhorrent rape clause across the UK.
“Kezia Dugdale’s powerful speech in the Scottish Parliament demonstrated the heart-breaking reality of the rape clause.
“Theresa May and [Scottish Tory leader] Ruth Davidson should be ashamed of this policy. Only a Labour government that works for the many, not the few, can bring this policy to an end.”
Ms Davidson, who previously said women only had to “tick a box” to apply under the measure, last week appeared to backtrack in the face of ongoing criticism.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live she still believed in the two-child cap and specific exemptions, but was “completely open“ to reviewing how it worked on the ground.
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