MANY of your readers may not be aware a new rule that limits child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in a family is introduced next week.

This implies some children, because of the circumstances of their birth, are less deserving of a decent standard of living than others and to my mind signifies a reintroduction of a eugenic strand to Government thinking.

As horrendous is the “rape clause” where a woman who has a third child due to rape has to justify this.

Our social security system should respond to need and act as a safety net. The two-child limit undermines that.

The Government’s justification is people should only have three or more children if they can be absolutely certain they can afford to raise them throughout their childhoods.

If only life were so simple – as we know, circumstances change through our life course. Whatever our financial position when we have children, the safety net should be there for all of us.

Poverty in childhood – which has risen to four million, and is set to rise to over five million by 2022 – is ruining children’s life chances.

Richard Bridge, Holgate Road, York