AN SNP bid to scrap the two-child cap on benefits which pushes 109 more children into poverty each day has passed its first parliamentary hurdle.

Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman’s Child Poverty Strategy (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill aims to not only to axe the measure introduced by Tory Chancellor George Osborne nearly a decade ago and affects 1.6 million children, but to scrap the bedroom tax with it.

Ms Blackman told Parliament: “If child poverty really was a priority for this Labour government, the Prime Minister would have scrapped the cruel two-child cap on day one of his premiership. He has now had over a year to do so.”

“Stop arguing about affordability.

“Scrapping the two-child cap will cut poverty at a stroke and is the most cost-effective way to do so. The two-child cap is cruel.”

As a 10-minute rule Bill, its stands little chance of being allocated the parliamentary time which would allow the further readings required for it to become law, but nonetheless it passed its first reading by 89 votes to 79.

While no Labour MPs spoke during the debate, seven — Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long Bailey, Andy McDonald, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Jon Trickett and Nadia Whittome — voted for it, along with John McDonnell and Apsana Begum who were both suspended by Labour for supporting a previous SNP attempt to scrap the cap.

The Bill was also co-sponsored by another member suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for his outspoken opposition to welfare reform and government inaction over the Grangemouth oil refinery closure; Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman.

He told the Star: “A Labour government should do everything it can to alleviate poverty.  As a Labour Party member, I believe this is in our party’s DNA. 

“In Clackmannanshire, one in four kids are living in poverty and as their MP I want to do everything I can to transform their lives for the better.

“By removing the two-child cap we would lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty all across the Scotland and the UK. 

“The two-child cap is a wicked policy that should be removed.

“As a Labour Party member I believe it’s our moral duty to do this in government. That’s why I co-sponsored the Bill.”