Rayner vows Labour will axe 'abhorrent' benefits rule

ANGELA Rayner has slammed an 'abhorrent' rule which forces some women to declare their child was conceived as a result of rape to receive benefits.

- SOPHIE HALLE-RICHARDS

Shocking figures showed that 900 women in the UK were forced to disclose that they had been raped in order to receive social security benefits.

Ms Rayner, MP for Ashton-underLyne, has now pledged that Labour would look into scrapping the benefit requirement as she committed the party's focus to tackling violence against women and girls.

The deputy Labour leader described the rape clause, which exists under the government's two-child cap on universal and child tax credits, as 'absolutely abhorrent.

The clause was introduced to enable women whose third or subsequent child was conceived through sexual assault to gain exemption from the limit. Other exemptions exist for multiple births and adoptions.