THE United Nations launched a probe into the British government’s vindictive attacks on welfare yesterday, including the “medieval” two-child tax credit limit.

Two of the measures announced in last year’s Budget will be investigated after SNP MP Alison Thewliss wrote to UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon about potential human rights breaches.

Ms Thewliss described the limitation of tax credits to families with two children or fewer, and a subclause that would force women to prove they had been raped to claim their benefits, as “medieval.”