A committee of MPs has warned the limit has unintended consequences no government should be willing to accept.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee said the Government’s justifications for the policy were based on assumptions that “simply do not hold true” and a “crude and unrealistic” distinction.

The committee published its final report of the current Parliament on Sunday, which concluded the Government must lift the two-child limit and return to providing support for all children through the benefits system.

The report said the limit will leave families having to stretch “frozen and capped” incomes to breaking point and children could bear the brunt of its impact.

It added: “The Government argues that the two-child limit will not increase child poverty because it will encourage families to increase their incomes from work.

“That may be possible for some. But for many, especially lone parents, the difficulty of accessing affordable childcare means that working more hours simply isn’t an option.

“Those families are left with no choice but to make their already frozen and capped incomes stretch ever further – sometimes to breaking point.

“All too often it will be children themselves who bear the impact.”

The report also said the Government had not provided any evidence to dispute experts forecasting that the policy will “significantly increase” child poverty.

It said…

The 95-year-old Democrat used a walker to enter the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, and spoke to more than 400 people.

With help, Mr Carter sat on a motorised lift chair at the front of the room to teach a 45-minute lesson based on the Old Testament book of Job.

“Morning, everybody,” he said cheerfully.

Referring to a cancer diagnosis that resulted in the removal of part of his liver in 2015, Mr Carter said he was “at ease” with the idea of dying and believes in life after death.

He was briefly hospitalised and has since been recovering at home since fracturing his pelvis on 21st October.

Mr Carter is the oldest US ex-President ever and has been teaching Bible lessons since he was in his teens.

Rev Tony Lowden said Secret Service agents, relatives and fellow church members all discouraged Mr Carter from teaching because of the injury, but he insisted.

“He is pouring out that you might see Christ while he is suffering,” Rev Lowden told the crowd.

Mr Carter remained for the worship service after teaching, sitting in a pew beside his wife, Rosalynn, and singing hymns with the congregation.

Referring to the former president and Jesus Christ by their initials, Rev Lowden gave thanks for Carter in prayer.

“The greatest thing I’ve learned as a pastor here is watching J.C. follow J.C.,” he said.

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Since US President Donald Trump withdrew American troops from northern Syria, he has been criticised for abandoning the Kurdish people and Christians in the region and leaving them open to attack from Turkish forces.

Turkish-backed fighters have been advancing in northern Syria since last month, leading to the displacement of about 200,000 people.

A car bomb went off in Tal Abyad on the Turkey-Syria border this week, injuring 20 people according to the Turkish defence ministry, who also blamed Syrian-Kurdish fighters for the attack.

Some Christians are also mistreated by the Kurds, but are united in their opposition to Turkey entering the area.

On Saturday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Christian fighters would now oversee security in a northern Syrian region that has witnessed fighting between Turkey-backed troops and Kurdish-led militiamen.

The SDF said the deployment will take place in villages close to the town of Tal Tamr in the Khabur river region, an area home to Syria’s dwindling Christian Syriac and Assyrian communities.

The Syriac Military Council, a founding member of the SDF, said on Sunday that it had taken the decision to continue defending itself against attack but demanded the ceasefire be enacted to “save the area and its residents from further distraction and atrocities” and called on the international community to protect…

The organisation Christians in Media encouraged churches on Sunday to pray for their brothers and sisters in the media industry, that they uphold truth, integrity and justice and for them to be key influencers for Godly principles.

Steve Cox, who chairs the charity, told Premier: “As followers of Christ, we are called to pray for our world and our society and the media in all its forms plays an important role in framing the way we see the world, but my heart is actually to see a media which gives a voice to the voiceless, holds the powerful to account, highlights unjust practices, calls for justice and keeps people informed so we can all participate in our democracy.

“I pray that they do see it as a calling. I also pray specifically for younger Christians, millennials, who are considering entering media – to see it as an honourable profession and therefore actually be representatives, be beacons of light, for the kingdom of God.”

When asked if it even was an honourable profession, Mr Cox replied: “I think most journalists when they enter into media – whether it’s TV, whether it’s radio, whether the printed press – enter with the highest motives and more often than not those motives are to highlight injustices, ensure that we, the public, know what’s going on behind the scenes and hold the power to account.

“I do appreciate that along the way sometimes external…

The service on Saturday evening was attended by more than 100 people at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Bow. 

Candles arranged to read “39” were at the foot of the altar ahead of the service in the Catholic church, which has a large Vietnamese congregation.

Reverend Simon Nguyen said: “Today we gather to remember the people who have departed.

“These people who used to live among us, who dined with us.

“Today they are no longer with us.”

Members of the congregation performed readings as part of the vigil and candles were lit.

Addressing the congregation, Rev Nguyen said: “Yesterday the police in Essex announced all the victims were Vietnamese.

“We show our condolences and sympathies for the people who have lost their lives on the way seeking freedom, dignity and happiness.

“We ask God to welcome them into his kingdom even though some of them were not Catholic but they strongly believed in eternal peace, so we pray for them.

“We pray for those who have lost their sons and daughters, their loved ones at this very challenging time.”

After the service, Rev Nguyen said the incident had affected the Vietnamese community internationally.

He said: “We couldn’t believe such tragedy could happen and the pain these people had to suffer before they…

Archbishop Clarke, 70, (pictured above with the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin) has been a bishop in the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican communion) for 23 years, after studying history and political science and gaining a PhD in church history.

He was elected as the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland – Archbishop of Armagh in Northern Ireland – in October 2012.

He told the diocese: “When I became Archbishop of Armagh at the close of 2012, I made a quiet agreement with my family, a few close friends and myself that I would try to work on as Primate for five years, assuming of course that ill-health or mortality itself did not intervene.”

“Coming towards the end of that five-year period, I would then review the situation with my family and, if all seemed to be working out reasonably well and I felt that I was still up for it, I would continue on for a further two years, but would not go on beyond that point. This latter moment in time has now arrived.”

The Archbishop has two children and three grandchildren and his wife Linda died in 2009.

He added: “This time in Armagh has truly been a very agreeable experience for me, and for this I humbly thank God for the great privilege I was given in being appointed as Primate seven years ago and I also thank all of you, for your constant encouragement, your friendship, your prayers, your support…