Exclusive: Officials exploring options to change rule that affected 1.7 million children in Great Britain last year * UK politics live – latest updates Rachel Reeves is to lift the two-child benefit limit in the budget, a key demand of Labour MPs and child poverty campaigners, with officials exploring options of a new tapered system. The chancellor and Keir Starmer have both said they expect to respond to recommendations of the child poverty taskforce at the budget, which is expected to say that lifting the two-child limit for universal credit and child tax credit would be one of the most effective ways to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Clearest sign yet No 10 is preparing to ditch policy as its preferred deputy leadership hopeful says issue is ‘profoundly personal’ * UK politics live – latest updates Ministers are a step closer to abandoning the two-child benefit cap after Downing Street’s preferred candidate to be Labour’s deputy leader said the policy was “spiteful” and had “punished and pushed children into hardship”. Bridget Phillipson said the cap’s abolition was “on the table” – the clearest sign yet that Downing Street is preparing to scrap the controversial policy. Continue reading...