A BRADFORD MP is urging the government to scrap the "abhorrent" two-child limit on welfare support to save thousands of children from poverty.

Imran Hussain, MP for Bradford East, spoke on the issue at an event earlier this week.

According to research conducted last year by the Church of England, in co-operation with the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), more than 50,000 children across the Bradford district are estimated to be affected by the Government’s two-child limit.

It prevents parents from claiming Universal Credit or child tax credit for a third or subsequent child born from April 6, 2017.

The research ranked Bradford West as the constituency most affected by the two-child limit in the country, while Bradford East was at number five and Bradford South at number 16.

With the impending national rollout of Universal Credit, organisations including the Institute for Fiscal Studies and CPAG have predicted the restriction of welfare support to just the first two eligible children in a household will drag 300,000 children into poverty and one million into deeper poverty.

According to the End Child Poverty campaign, 40 per cent of children across the Bradford district are already living in poverty, after housing costs.

Amid growing concern of mass redundancies because of the Covid-19 crisis, leaving many households in an uncertain and precarious financial position, Mr Hussain has warned many more children and families will be plunged into poverty sooner than the Universal Credit rollout if action is not taken urgently.

He said: “The Government’s two-child welfare limit is an abhorrent policy that disproportionately affects those from inner cities and represents the very worst of their demonisation of those families on lower incomes.

"It is a policy that delivers no meaningful benefits whilst plunging thousands of children into poverty.

"Growing up in poverty statistically means that a child is less likely to achieve academically and enter a well-paid, high-skill career, whilst being more likely to suffer from poverty-related health issues, all of which the Government have pledged to address but failed to deliver on.

"It also means that they often end up trapped in a cycle of poverty and deprivation that repeats itself over and over for generations."

Mr Hussain added: "Ministers must recognise that it is the children affected by this policy who suffer the most when their families are unable to get by and when they are forced to grow up in poverty, and the Government must commit to scrapping the two-child limit so that they can lift thousands of children out of poverty, not drag them into it.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We’re committed to supporting the most vulnerable in society and understand the challenges many people are facing.

"That is why we injected £6.5bn into the welfare system, including increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by up to £1,040 a year.

The spokesperson added: "The two child policy ensures fairness by asking families getting benefits to make the same financial choices as people who support themselves solely through work, and there are exemptions and safeguards in place.”