THE Tories sank to a "new low" with Esther McVey's comments on the rape clause, according to SNP MP Alison Thewliss.
The UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was being questioned by Holyrood's Social Security Committee over Tory welfare reform.
As well as the effects of Universal Credit, McVey was pressed by Green MSP Alison Johnstone on the two-child limit on tax credits.
The "rape clause" element of the policy allows a woman to claim for a third child if it was conceived as a result of non-consensual sex, but they have to prove this is the case.
Asked for her thoughts on the widely criticised policy, McVey said it could help offer women an outlet and so provide "double support".
READ MORE: Tory minister says rape clause offers women 'double support'
Thewliss said: “I didn’t think the Tory government could sink any lower on this issue, but they have once again outdone themselves.
“The Secretary of State is completely out of step with how damaging the two-child limit is, and she demonstrated as much with her performance at yesterday’s committee hearing.
“Charities and agencies are lining up to tell the government how reckless this policy is, that it will push 200,000 children below the poverty line, and that women claiming tax credits for a third child conceived due to rape will have to prove the point during an interview, yet no one wants to listen. This behaviour is inhumane, it is unforgivable.
“Esther McVey is simply wrong about the rape clause. No woman should be forced to relive the experience of rape simply in order to qualify for tax credits. To endorse the existing process as in some way beneficial to the claimant is simply staggering.
“The issue of rape is an incredibly sensitive one, and it is not being treated as such by this Tory government. The very fact that women’s aid organisations in Scotland are refusing to act as third-party referrers should be ringing serious alarm bells about the policy’s viability.
“Unfortunately for the government, opposition to this pernicious policy continues to grow, and I look forward to joining with charities, agencies and demonstrators at the protest on Thursday.
"The government has performed various U-turns in recent weeks, without doubt the two child limit and rape clause should be its next. To this end I have written to the Secretary of State to ask that she meet with me, and women’s aid groups, as a matter of urgency."
A demonstration against the two-child limit on tax credits will be held on Thursday at 5.30pm, on The Mound, Edinburgh – one year since its implementation.
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