Fury as Brian Whittle calls the rape clause an 'invention to beat the Tories with'

Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, made the comments in an interview with Holyrood Magazine.

In 2017, the UK Government introduced a limit on child-tax credits to the first two children. A clause in the rules mean mothers who have a third child as a result of rape can be exempted – but would have to provide evidence to do so.

But Whittle said the clause should be referred to differently.

He said: “Well, number one, again, this is where politics is appalling, there is no such thing as a rape clause. That’s an invention. There’s an exemption clause. Why don’t we call it a children in care clause? Because it’s part of the same thing.

“I’ll tell you what I think about that, there’s a legitimate debate to be had around the child cap that will never happen because, politically, you wouldn’t be allowed to say what you’ve got to say.

“The term ‘rape clause’ is an invention to beat the Tories with. It’s the invention of another political party.”

SNP MSP Shona Robison said: “Brian Whittle has shown total contempt for victims of rape and coercion with his comments, when the reality is that the Tory Government has inflicted this policy on low-income families.

“It is staggering that Whittle not only fails to understand the reality of Tory welfare cuts, but thinks he shouldn’t be expected to answer for the callous actions and policies of his own party. He seems to be in total denial about the hardship and misery his own party is causing.

“It is time for the Tories to take responsibilities for their own damaging welfare policies and face up to the real-life consequences they are causing their constituents.”

Before entering politics, Whittle was best known as an athlete, representing Great Britain 45 times, including at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

He competed at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand and won gold at the 1986 and 1994 European Athletics Championships, though his greatest claim to fame remains finishing the race after losing his shoe during the 1986 Championships – he claims it came off because Kriss Akabusi stood on it – leading him to adopt the questionable nickname of “One Shoe Whittle” around Parliament.

He says he was approached to run at the 1997 election but turned the offer down. He joined the Scottish Tories in 2015 after getting involved in the Better Together campaign during the independence referendum.

One of his first appearances was debating with Shona Robison on the future of sport in an independent Scotland.

SNP MP Alison Thewliss, who has been leading the campaign to scrap the rape clause, said: “I have been campaigning on the two-child policy and rape clause since I spotted it buried in the July Budget in 2015. I have challenged it at every stage, and I find it truly staggering that the Tories still pretend their cruel and pernicious policy doesn’t exist.

“Brian Whittle claims that the ‘rape clause’ is an invented term, but this is just semantics. The legislation speaks of “non-consensual conception” – rape by any other name.”

Scottish Labour social security spokesperson Mark Griffin described the comments as “skin-crawling”.

“This is a staggering interview packed with disgraceful comments from Brian Whittle, with arguments that could have come straight from Esther McVey or Iain Duncan Smith,” said Griffin. “Calling the ‘rape clause’ an invention to attack the Tory party is simply skin-crawling.

“It’s clear that the Scottish Tories are every bit as nasty as their colleagues down south and are happy to leave the cap in place.”