UK politics live: Furious Chagos Islands row erupts as Tories accused of risking losing key air base in courts

Finally, it was the climax of the week for the Conservative candidates; the chance to pose on stage with an audience of 1,900 and show their real selves. If only they hadn’t, writes Joe Murphy:

Scrapping the two-child limit would lift more than half a million out of absolute poverty at an eventual cost to the government of £2.5 billion a year, but would “do nothing” for the poorest households caught by the remaining benefit cap, a think tank has said.

Doing away with the two-child limit would be the single most cost-effective way of reducing child poverty, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), but it said that such a policy change is “not a silver bullet”.

Scrapping both the two-child limit and the benefit cap would lift 620,000 children out of absolute poverty but would cost more than £3 billion annually, the organisation said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been under pressure, since he came to power in July, to remove the two-child policy, and some of Labour’s own MPs were suspended after backing another party’s motion to do so.

The government has cited spending controls as a reason for not being able to immediately ditch the policy, indicating there would be no change to it without economic growth.

The two-child limit was first announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect in 2017. It restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

In a new report setting out estimates for the costs and effects of scrapping different policies, rather than recommendations, the IFS said reversing the two-child limit would lift 540,000 children out of absolute poverty.

Nearly two in five parents have been forced to educate their disabled child at home because of a lack of suitable provision or funding, a survey has found.

A third (33 per cent) of parents of disabled children have had to go to tribunal to have their local authority agree to fund their child’s education, according to the poll for disability charity Sense.

Parents have been forced to give up their careers because their children’s needs are not being met, while others have had to spend their children’s savings to fight for support, the charity said.

The survey, of 1,001 parents and guardians of disabled children under the age of 18 in the UK, found 46 per cent struggled to get an education, health and care (EHC) plan in place for their child, and a similar proportion (45 per cent) said they had faced difficulties in getting the plan delivered.

The charity has estimated that around 200,000 disabled children in England are having problems getting the right support through an EHC plan.

An EHC plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.

These plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs.

The poll, which was carried out by Censuswide in September, found that 39% of parents said they have had to educate their disabled child at home as there is not the funding or the right education provision available to them.

The charity is calling on the government to set out an improvement plan for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in its upcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill.

Tory leadership contender James Cleverly refused three times to disown the economic chaos which took place under Liz Truss’ leadership after his plan to scrap stamp duty on house sales was likened to policies introduced by the former prime minister.

The pledge, which he said would cost £10 billion, was compared in a radio interview to the disastrous tax cuts introduced by Ms Truss’ government.

Mishal Hussain, host of BBC Radio 4 Today claimed the move was “the kind of thing” the former prime minister - who resigned just 49 days after taking office - had done.

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Councils say they are “staring down the barrel” financially, as new analysis suggests they will be limited to being “little more than care services” by the end of this Parliament without a boost to resources.

In another dire warning of the perilous state of local government finances, the study found that without extra funding, ministers will have to “radically rethink” councils’ statutory responsibilities, to prevent potentially six in ten county and unitary authorities in rural areas declaring bankruptcy by 2028.

Ministers have repeatedly warned of difficult choices because of a £22 billion black hole they say officials have discovered in the public finances, leading to concerns that Chancellor Rachel Reeves could stick with spending plans which would provide limited relief for under-pressure councils when she delivers her Budget on 30 October.

In its submission to the Budget and Spending Review, the County Councils Network (CCN) cited analysis showing all local authorities in England combined would experience a cumulative £54 billion funding shortfall over the five-year period of this Parliament, based on current projections.

For the 37 CCN councils, which serve nearly half of the population, the funding gap amounted to £20.3 billion.

The huge shortfall was identified as being largely driven by rising demand and costs in just three service areas: adult social care, children’s services and home-to-school transport for children with special education needs and disabilities (Send).

Together these services were found to account for 83 per cent of the total increase in projected costs by 2030.