The Labour Government has been urged to scrap the “utterly vile” rape clause after Keir Starmer promised a rethink in opposition. SNP MSP Rona Mackay said the Tory policy must be axed as a matter of urgency and criticised delays in a review.
As part of a cost-saving exercise, Conservative ministers limited some means-tested benefits to the first two children. Women who had conceived a third or subsequent child through rape have to fill out a form to access social security payments.
The principle of requiring women to demonstrate sexual assault has been widely condemned by critics.
Asked by the Record in May if he would scrap the rape clause, Starmer replied: “We will obviously have to review that. If we do have the privilege of winning there are a number of things that we will obviously want to come back to.”
Starmer has since become Prime Minister and the rape clause has not been reviewed. In a letter to Liz Kendall, Labour Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mackay wrote:
“During the General Election campaign, Keir Starmer said that he would “back a review” of the utterly vile rape clause if a Labour government was elected. Yet, after four months in power, the Two Child Limit remains in place and we have yet to see any evidence of progress on such a review of the Rape Clause – whilst women and children are forced to suffer from its effects every day.”
She added: “The impact of this policy cannot be underestimated. Overwhelming evidence shows this policy re-traumatises women by forcing them to relive the details of being raped and abused at a time and in a manner not of their choosing, just to get the support they are entitled to. There is also a real concern for the potential impact on individual children, who may have been conceived through rape and who find out that painful reality only as a result of this policy”
She ended her letter: “The SNP has opposed this cruel Tory policy at every step. We had hoped that a UK Labour government would make good on its election promises but have seen no evidence to suggest this is the case. For the sake of the thousands of women and children directly affected, I hope you will finally scrap this damaging policy as a matter of urgency.”
It was revealed in 2023 that 2,590 households had to prove they were victims of sexual assault to qualify for extra benefits. According to the latest figures from the Department of Work and Pensions, the two-child benefit cap affects 1.6m children across the UK.
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