Labour pressed to end two-child benefit cap with 1.6m youngsters affected

Campaigners say figure is shameful and that Tory policy is single biggest driver of child poverty

The Labour government has come under fresh pressure to abolish the two-child benefit limit after the latest official figures showed a record 1.6 million children were living in families affected by the controversial policy.

Campaigners, charities and MPs across the political spectrum described the figures as shameful and renewed calls for the benefit limit to be scrapped, saying the much-criticised policy introduced by the Conservative government seven years ago had become the UK's biggest single driver of child poverty.