A FORMER Labour MP and life peer has been slammed for saying defence was more worthy of spending than axing the two-child cap.

John Woodcock, styled as Lord Walney, wrote an article in PoliticsHome on Friday arguing that Labour needed to prioritise defence spending over mending societal ills caused by the last Tory government.

The former Barrow-in-Furness MP wrote that the threat of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea "requires a major, sustained investment in the defence of the realm".

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He continued: "The government could hit its 2.5% [defence spending target] by 2028 – two years earlier than the last Tory government planned – if it chose to spend on defence the amount of money that it would cost to scrap the two-child benefit."

One Twitter/X user termed the article as a "rare ultra explicit 'bombs not bairns' spotted in the wild."

Maggie Chapman MSP told The National in response to Woodcock's article: “There is no shortage of money, Labour have just decided in the first weeks of their government that lifting children out of poverty isn’t a priority for them.

"If they find that decision difficult to justify, then rather than ludicrously trying to blame Russia or North Korea, they should reverse it.”

"The bottom line is that Labour are making a political choice to continue a policy that punishes 1.6 million children and condemns hundreds of thousands to poverty."

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"If we could hook a turbine up to Labour politicians, the speed at which they're spinning their shameful decision to continue the two child benefit cap would solve the world's energy problems overnight."

Woodcock resigned from Labour in July 2018, as an inquiry into sexual harassment he was alleged to have committed reached its conclusion.

After the allegations broke, he had the party whip withdrawn and his membership suspended.

He claimed the inquiry was politically motivated, and during his resignation said he believed the party had been taken over by the "hard Left" since Jeremy Corbyn gained the party leadership.

However, reporting in The Guardian quoted a senior party figure as saying that they "did not doubt the sincerity" of the allegations lodged against Woodcock.

Earlier in his article, Woodcock reiterated statements from the chief of the Army that "the country must be ready to fight a war within three years" due to the threat from Russia.

He went on to say that "this group of Labour leaders" can not afford to wish away the perceived threats facing the UK.