Liz Kendall admits it would be 'personal failure' if child poverty is still rising at next election

Liz Kendall has admitted it would be a personal failure of hers if child poverty rates are still rising at the next election. The Work and Secretary told The child poverty "will be going down" - despite a grim official analysis of her department's welfare cuts.

The impact of assessment of £4.8billion in cuts to sickness and disability benefits warned last week 50,000 extra kids fall below the poverty lines as a result.

Grim figures published the following day also showed 4.5million children are now in poverty with many warning the figure will surge without urgent government action.

Asked whether it would be a personal failure of hers and the government if rates are on the up at the next election, Ms Kendall replied: "Yes."

Quizzed on the benefit cuts impact assessment, she said: "That did not take into account the fact that our £1billion additional employment support is absolutely designed to give people an opportunity and a pathway out of poverty."

"None of that was included in the impact assessment and we have our child poverty task force coming up.

The Cabinet minister added: "We've got 4.5million children in poverty - an extra 900,000 under the Tories. Every single indicator - absolute, relative, before or after housing costs - is unacceptable."

"We've got a clear manifesto commitment to tackle poverty and drive child poverty down and that is what we will deliver. Child poverty will be going down."

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In the coming months the government will publish the results of a major child poverty taskforce launched by weeks after winning power.

Many charities are calling on ministers to use the review to scrap the controversial two-child benefit limit - introduced in 2017 by austerity-era Chancellor .

The policy restricts parents from claiming or Child Tax Credit for children beyond their first two and has been blamed for trapping kids in poverty.

But Ms Kendall refused to be drawn on the future of the policy. She said: "You know when it was introduced, we voted against it.

"Our whole approach is to say we will only make promises if we show we can afford it and how we're going to commit to them. I'm not into a wing and a prayer, I'm into solid action. People deserve that and you'll just have to wait until we publish our child poverty strategy."