Sir Keir Starmer has been blasted by a Scottish Labour MSP after he said it was not Labour policy to ditch the Conservative party’s two-child benefit cap.

Monica Lennon said her colleagues were “scared of deselection” or “being exiled to backbenches” for speaking out, but that the policy, and the so-called “rape clause”, was “abhorrent.” 

The row threatens to overshadow a visit to Hamilton by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves. 

The frontbencher is due to speak about eye-watering mortgage hikes following the interest rates rising for the thirteenth time in June, but will almost certainly face questions over the party's latest u-turn.

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Last month, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jon Ashworth suggested Labour would scrap the policy. He it was “heinous” and said it was “absolutely keeping children in poverty.”

Taking questions from journalists on Thursday, Sir Keir was asked to confirm that scrapping the cap was Labour policy.

He said: “In relation to the benefit cap, that isn’t our policy, and if that changes I’ll let you know.”

The two-child policy was introduced by George Osborne in his 2015 budget. It came into effect in 2017 after MPs backed the measure in the House of Commons.

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.

However, there is an exemption for families where that third child is conceived as a result of rape. 

But claimants must either be able to point to a conviction for rape or coercing, controlling behaviour, or a Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme award, or have a third party such as a health professional or social worker fill in a form for the DWP.

A recent study found that the cap had been unsuccessful in increasing employment and that relative poverty among larger families with three or more children, which has been rising since 2013, has continued to increase. 

The Resolution Foundation estimates that nearly half of families with three or more children were in relative poverty in 2021/22, up from a third in 2012/13. 

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After Sir Keir’s comments, Ms Lennon - a former leadership contender - took to Twitter to criticise the party leader.

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She tweeted: “I know colleagues are scared of deselection, being exiled to backbenches, or not winning selections but if we don’t speak out then who will?

“The two-child benefit cap (aka the rape clause) is abhorrent and must be scrapped.  @UKLabour policies must be progressive and humane.”

The SNP's Alison Thewliss, who has long campaigned against the rape clause, said there were questions over Labour's position. She said: "The UK Tory Government has pushed millions of people into poverty with its barbaric cuts to social security.

"Not only does this harmful Tory policy make it increasingly difficult for families to get by in these challenging times, but there is also evidence that it forces women into an impossible choice between serious financial difficulty or terminating a pregnancy.

“Labour’s failure to commit to scrapping this horrific policy only emphasises their lack of awareness of the serious issues so many families face across these Isles.

"Just last month, Jonathan Ashworth committed to scrapping it. Now, as we have seen too often from the Labour Party, they have performed a U-turn.

“In 2015, Keir Starmer called the two child limit and rape clause ‘worrying’, ‘abhorrent’ and ‘regressive’. 

“Today he says that it is not the policy of the Labour Party he leads to abolish it. It begs the question, why is this not their policy?”

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Meanwhile, Ms Reeves is due to visit Centrica Green Skills Centre with Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Mr Sarwar to “promote the party’s focus on lowering energy bills and creating new jobs in the industries of the future across Scotland, through the party’s Green Prosperity Plan.”

Ms Reeves said: “Across Scotland, families are being hit hard by the toxic combination of a Tory mortgage bombshell and an incompetent SNP distracted by scandal.

“Unlike both these governments, Labour will not stand by while Scots face the reality of those failures."