"Across all regions, relative child poverty is projected to increase markedly," according to new research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The thinktank predicts an increase of more than a million in the number of children living in poverty, more than reversing all the progress made over the past 20 years.

As The Guardian reports, the number of children living in poverty will soar to a record 5.2 million over the next five years as government welfare cuts bite deepest on households with young families.

Weakness in income growth since the recession had been unprecedented in recent times, according to the research, and living standards will continue to be under pressure over the coming years.

“The larger projected rises occur in areas where families with children are more reliant on benefits than earnings for their income, and where more families are likely to be adversely affected by the new two-child limit on means-tested benefits.”

The IFS said the increase in relative poverty over the coming years would be concentrated among families with children.

Poverty rates for working-age adults without children and for pensioners would remain roughly unchanged...

“with real earnings growth boosting the incomes of those at the top of the distribution more, while benefit cuts fall largely on those nearer the bottom."

The report’s findings, which also predict a widening of the gap between rich and poor and four more years of weak income growth, pose a direct challenge to Theresa May, who arrived in Downing Street pledging to help those “just about managing”.