Ending unfairness is key to ending child poverty

Commenting on today’s publication of the Conservative Party report An Unfair Britain: why Labour have failed on fairness, Child Poverty Action Group’s Head of Policy, Dr Paul Dornan, said:

“Unfairness is at the heart of Britain’s shameful record on child poverty. We have one of the highest rates of child poverty in Europe, but we can and must do better for our children. This means fair pay, fair taxation and fair benefits for those unable to work, so that they are not excluded from society by their poverty. British people value fairness and it is time we respected this important moral tradition by ending child poverty.

“The Conservative’s new focus on unfair taxation, which leaves the poor paying more than the rich, is very important. Our politicians must make a clear pledge to voters that unfair taxes will end. There are 2 million children in working families living below the poverty line – why should their parents pay more of their hard earned wages in tax while today’s super rich Low Tax Elite gets special treatment?

“There is an error in the report, leading to a dodgy claim that there are 900,000 more people in ‘severe poverty’ since 1997. It’s important that ‘severe poverty’ is not just a political football with more spin than a Beckham free kick. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, whose data the Conservatives have used, has previously warned the party it is not a viable measure. It is also a political risk for the party to use a dodgy ‘severe poverty’ measure according to which poverty increased by nearly 500% under the last Conservative governments.”

 

Notes for editors

• The Conservatives have used 40% of median income after housing costs as a ‘severe poverty’ measure. However they have been previously warned by the Institute of Fiscal Studies that this measure is highly unreliable because the sample size is too small, it captures wealthy people taking a break from work and conflicts with the more important measure of material deprivation. See page 27 of the IFS report ‘Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2007’ (http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn73.pdf).
• If the ‘severe poverty’ measure is applied to the Thatcher and Major years of government, the number of people below the line in 1978 was 1 million and in 1997 it had risen to 4.9 million – a rise of very nearly 500%. By contrast, the rise under the Labour government is around 20%. More significant, however, is the international standard poverty measure for wealthy countries, which is at 60% of median income and which the Institute for Fiscal Studies finds correlates much better with measures of material deprivation.
• CPAG is the leading charity campaigning for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children.
• CPAG is one of over 130 member organisations of the Campaign to End Child Poverty, campaigning for public and political commitment to ensure the goals of halving child poverty by 2010 and ending child poverty by 2020 are met.

For further information please contact:
Tim Nichols
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
tnichols@cpag.org.uk