Ending child poverty

This letter was published in the Guardian on 7 December 2015. Ten years ago, on his first day as party leader, David Cameron vowed that “the test for our policies will not be how they affect the better off, but how they help the worst-off in our country”.

Now you see it…  Now you don’t.  The government’s rustled up a party trick for the kids this Christmas. They’re going to make 3.7 million of them disappear. Britain’s children aren’t going anywhere, of course, particularly those who are growing up poor.

A few weeks away from marking a decade as his party’s leader, this week David Cameron had the benefit of not one, but two former Prime Ministers warning him over his poverty and inequality legacy.

Writing in the Times, Tim Montgomerie makes important arguments on the role of statistics in government. Accurate, timely statistics measuring things that are of interest from a public policy perspective can provide the evidence base that drives intelligent policy.

The Resolution Foundation made the news last week with their estimates of the impact on child poverty of the Summer Budget. Their report, A poverty of information, suggests that 200,000 more children will fall into poverty in 2016/17 as a direct result of the measures in the Summer Budget.

Read CPAG's response to the Prime Minister's speech at the Conservative party conference.

Responding today to the Prime Minister’s Conservative Conference speech today, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: “The Prime Minister is absolutely right to recognise that ending UK poverty would be a tremendous social reform and he deserves huge credit for putting poverty, social mobility and equality at the heart of his speech...

Find out the details of the CPAG's fringe events at the party conferences.

If you're attending any of the party conferences, why not stop by one of our fringe events. We have a great line up of speakers and would love to hear your voices at these party debates.

And it seems children are at the bottom of the government's list of priorities.