Keir Starmer faces poverty grilling from top MPs amid call to axe DWP two-child benefit limit

Keir Starmer is set to face a grilling from MPs on levels of poverty amid fresh calls to axe the controversial two-child benefit limit.

The Prime Minister, who will appear at the Liaison Committee on Monday, has insisted he will leave "no stone unturned" to tackle levels of child poverty

But he faces warnings today that without scrapping the Tory-era two-child benefit limit he risks overseeing the first Labour government to see a "significant rise in child poverty".

The policy, which has been blamed for trapping kids in poverty, restricts parents from claiming Child Tax Credits and Universal Credit for a third or subsequent child.

Recently Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said scrapping the measure remains on the table as part of a delayed child poverty strategy. She said it will be "looking at every lever and we'll continue to look at every lever to lift children out of poverty".

Monday's session will give MPs the chance to quiz Mr Starmer on the strategy.

Dan Paskins, executive director at Save the Children, told The Mirror : "The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling child poverty is his government's moral mission. mExpanding free school meals and Best Start Family Hubs shows ambition but will not be enough to truly reduce the number of children growing up in hardship."

He added: "Every day 109 more children are impacted by the two-child limit, facing growing up without enough to get by, simply because they have more siblings. The Prime Minister has a choice to make ahead of the Autumn Budget : scrap the two-child limit on Universal Credit in full or risk being the first Labour government to oversee a significant rise in child poverty."

Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, added: "The key question for the PM is given his government has a moral mission to reduce child poverty, will he now commit to scrapping the two-child limit in the autumn child poverty strategy as the most cost-effective way to get record child poverty down?"

Speaking last month, Mr Starmer said: "I want to get to the root causes of child poverty. One of the greatest things the last Labour government did was to drive down child poverty. I am determined we will do that."

MPs on the Liaison Committee include three senior Labour MPs - Debbie Abrahams, Helen Hayes, and Florence Eshalomi. All three signed an amendment to the welfare bill last month to block cuts to a key disability benefit - Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

A government analysis of the reforms, which were eventually gutted in a major climbdown, had warned the cuts could result in 250,000 people being pushed into poverty.