Child poverty plans unveiled by Keir Starmer "could help 40,000 Yorkshire children"
Campaigners have had a mixed reaction to new Government measures which Labour say will lift over half a million children out of poverty.
The long awaited child poverty strategy, released on Friday, signals the end to the two-child benefit cap, and also puts in measures to reduce the number of children living in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation.
There are some 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK.
Earlier this year, government statistics revealed Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest proportion of children aged under 16 in relative low income families (30 per cent) with Bradford and Hull having particularly high levels at 44.2 per cent and 38.2 per cent respectively.
And new analysis from thinktank IPPR shows regions with higher child poverty – Yorkshire and the Humber, Wales and the North West – see larger proportional income increases in household income from scrapping the two-child limit, with an estimated 40,000 children in the region set to be lifted out of poverty due to the new measures.
The Prime Minister said the national statistics are “shocking” and came with an “individual human cost” in terms of skipped meals and poor accommodation.
He asked: “Should any of this really be happening in a country like ours?” There was a “basic moral argument” for taking action, with poverty acting as a “huge barrier to potential” for children.
“After all, if you are arriving in your classroom hungry or tired from sleeping in a cold bed, then you are simply not in the best position to learn. We should not stand for that,” he said.
Tackling child poverty is a “sound investment” because it can “improve their life chances and strengthen our economy for the long-term”.
Sir Keir said tackling child poverty would “alleviate pressure on our public services” and ease cost-of-living pressures for the working poor.
The Prime Minister said the 116-page strategy “is a symbol of the promise we made to the British people”. The plan has been welcomed by some charities as a good starting point, but Big Issue founder Lord John Bird warned against “warm words” and a strategy he said was lacking in “ambitious targets”.
The crossbench peer, who experienced poverty as a child, said: “In this challenging economic climate, there is every reason to worry warm words will not translate into tangible progress.” But the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation hailed the measures, saying the Government had “put its money where its mouth is.” Katie Schmuecker, principal policy adviser at the charity, said: “This government has put its money where its mouth is on the manifesto commitment to reducing child poverty.
“It has shown its commitment to improving children’s lives by abolishing the two-child limit in Universal Credit which will make an immediate and material difference to children in families who were at a much higher risk of hardship. It is the single most effective policy decision it could have taken to lift significant numbers of children out of poverty.”