The struggle to reduce child poverty
Updated on 10 June 2008
New figures suggest the government is failing in its aim to reduce child poverty. Channel 4 News reports from Wythenshawe, one of the poorest areas in the UK.
Today government figures reveal that the number of children living in poverty is on the rise for the second year running, despite the government's aim to get rid of child poverty altogether.
Do the government's targets actually match the hopes and desires of people trying to make ends meet?
The government defines poverty as households living on less than 60 per cent of median income. For a family with two children, that means anyone on £345 a week or less.
The government's pledge is to halve the number of children in poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. But last year the number actually rose by 100,000 to 2.9 million.
And while the rise in child poverty is politically embarrassing, the picture across the board is also grim.
The number of overall people living in relative poverty is up. Pensioner poverty is up too. In short, there are more poor people in this country than 12 months ago.
It looks like a case of government failure. But what, Gary Gibbon asks, are the political solutions?
Despite condemning Labour's record, the Conservatives appear to occupy very similar ground, accepting the principle of relative poverty.
And they are not planning to replace Gordon Brown's tax credit system. So where do the differences lie?
