Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner warn two-child benefit cap could remain until the next election

ITV News' Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana grilled Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves on their approach to child poverty.

Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner has refused to commit to scrapping the two-child limit on benefits, even if the party win the General Election on July 4.

In an exclusive interview with ITV News, Rayner avoided the question when asked directly and instead said: "There's a lot of levers you can pull that will help us alleviate child poverty.

"The last Labour government took millions of children out of poverty. The next Labour government will do the same.”

When asked if the policy would be gone within the next five years, she said: "That's our plan, but we don't want to start making commitments."

Angela Rayner dodged questions about whether the two-child limit would be axed.

The two-child limit was introduced under the Conservative Government in 2017, and restricts Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit to the first two children in most households.

In May, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he would scrap the cap “in an ideal world” but added that “we haven’t got the resources to do it at the moment”.

A report from the End Child Poverty Coalition earlier this month found child poverty rates are directly and strongly correlated with the percentage of children affected by the two-child limit in the local area.

It argued that this provides “further evidence that the policy is a key driver of child poverty”.

Rayner also faced questions on her decision to continue to serve under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour party.

"For me, I felt it was my obligation to do my utmost to be an opposition when my constituents was feeling the full brunt of the conservatives," she said.

"And therefore the question was never about who our leader was. The question for me was fighting for that change that I so desperately want to see."

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves was also questioned by Anushka Asthana, during the interview in a pub in Cannock, Staffordshire.

Responding to Corbyn’s recent claim that he would win if he led Labour into this election, she laughed: “Well he lot two elections didn’t he? He had his chance.”

When the conversation moved to childhood political heroes, the two women tipped to become the two most powerful in the country had varied responses.

Reeves revealed she had a framed picture of Gordon Brown on her wall when she was growing up, whilst Rayner's bedroom featured posters of her favourite bands instead.

"This is terrible - I was an East 17 fan when I was growing up, and Prodigy. So they were on my wall," she said.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every day in the run-up to the election Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…