A fresh war of words has erupted in the Labour deputy leadership race over moves to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson took a swipe at her rival Lucy Powell as she urged Rachel Reeves to scrap the hated Tory policy.

HuffPost UK revealed last month that Keir Starmer has already decided to scrap the cap, with the chancellor preparing to announce it when she delivers her Budget on November 26.

Phillipson said that she, rather than Powell, had been leading moves inside government to tackle child poverty.

On Sky News, Phillipson repeatedly stressed that she could put pressure on the chancellor to scrap the benefit cap from inside government – a clear reference to the fact that Powell is no longer in the cabinet after being sacked as Commons leader last month.

She said: “There’s an urgency to this. With every year that passes more children are moving to poverty because of the two-child limit.

“It was a Tory policy. We would not have introduced it. I’m clear what needs to happen. I’ll be in Cabinet arguing for that, and that’s why I’ve made tackling child poverty my number one priority during this campaign.”

Presenter Trevor Phillips asked her: “Do you seriously believe Lucy Powell wouldn’t do all she could to end child poverty?”

Phillipson replied: “I’ve got a track record on actually taking action to lift children out of poverty. It’s been a longstanding cause of mine.”

In another jibe at Powell, Phillipson said: “I want to build on the record of people like Angela Rayner and John Prescott, who were in government, running big government departments, but as the members’ voice at the cabinet table. I think that would give me extra clout.”

But an ally of Powell told HuffPost UK: “Lucy has made the running on this. Scrapping the two child benefit cap wouldn’t have been discussed in the contest if Lucy hadn’t put it squarely at the centre of her campaign.

“It’s well documented that she spoke up about the welfare changes because of the impact on child poverty.”

The clash is further evidence of how the battle to be Labour’s deputy leader has grown increasingly bitter.

In a post on X last week accusing Powell of splitting the party, Phillipson said: “Back me to end child poverty or take us back to our divided past”.

Meanwhile, a Labour source told the New Statesman: “Lucy was sacked from Cabinet because she couldn’t be trusted not to brief or leak. She findamentally lost the trust of colleagues.”

Powell has insisted she will be the Labour members’ voice at the top of the party if she becomes deputy leader.

Ballots close in the contest on October 23, with the winner being announced two days later.