"Make poverty history in the UK," say campaigners
23.09.05

The Government is in danger of missing its own targets on eradicating child poverty unless it steps up its efforts, a leading charity warned last night.

As the Labour Party Annual Conference begins in Brighton, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has called for tackling child poverty to be the driving goal of the Government's third term.

In March 1999 Tony Blair pledged to "end child poverty forever" within 20 years. Targets or "public service agreements" were set to abolish child poverty by 2020, halve it by 2010 and cut it by one quarter by this year.

While the number of children living below the poverty line (measured as 60% of median income after housing costs) has been cut from 4.1 million in 1998/99 to 3.5 million in 2003/04, further falls are needed to hit the target. Figures for 2004/05 are due to be published next March.

Kate Green OBE, Chief Executive of CPAG, said:

"Credit where credit is due, the Government has made major progress in tackling child poverty, reversing the trend it inherited. Increases in the minimum wage, tax credits and child benefit have all made a difference to the lives of many of the poorest people.

"But if the Government is to meet its own ambitious targets to eradicate child poverty it needs to go further and faster.

"That's why we are calling on Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to step up their efforts and make ending child poverty one of the driving goals of Labour's third term. Poverty seriously damages children's lives and their opportunities, so it makes both moral and economic sense to tackle it.

"Although poverty in the developing world has rightly been the focus of political attention this year, we must not forget the poverty that remains closer to home.

"We need a Make Poverty History in the UK campaign to run alongside the international poverty effort and force the issue to the top of the political agenda.

"CPAG is concerned that the Government will miss its own child poverty targets. The Government is travelling down the right road, but in order to meet those milestones it must put its foot on the accelerator.

"CPAG hopes that Gordon Brown will on Monday re-affirm Labour's laudable commitment to end child poverty and explain what more the Government can do to make that pledge a reality."

For further information please contact:

Alex Belardinelli
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
abelardinelli@cpag.org.uk