Tag: child-poverty

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Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian in December 2024: The news that more than one in three children in the UK are now living in poverty should shock everyone but surprise no one. Nearly three years into the cost of living crisis, we know that young families and disabled people have been among those hit hardest by the biggest fall in UK living standards in half a century. The latest estimates, by the non-partisan Social Metrics Commission, show that the number of people in poverty has risen to 16 million, or nearly one in four of the UK population – its highest … Continue reading Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it

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The two-child benefit cap:  will it prove an ethical dilemma for Kirsty McNeill MP, Labour’s new Under Secretary of State for Scotland and former Director of Save the Children?

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By stewartb One of the most conspicuous examples of a Labour MP shifting their stance on the urgency of reducing child poverty – specifically on the urgency of abolishing the two-child benefit cap – must surely be that of Kirsty McNeill, the new member of parliament for Midlothian and significantly, the Under Secretary of State for Scotland. Prior to being elected, Ms McNeill was Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Save the Children. In reading what follows, bear in mind Ms McNeill’s job title with this major charity operating in the UK and internationally – note ‘policy’, note … Continue reading The two-child benefit cap:  will it prove an ethical dilemma for Kirsty McNeill MP, Labour’s new Under Secretary of State for Scotland and former Director of Save the Children?

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New Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Labour MP betrays all she claims to stand for and votes to keep the cruel two child benefit cap and her £91K job

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Before the 2024 General Election in the local Ayrshire newspapers: Elaine Stewart, Labour candidate said: “As someone who works daily with children and young people in some of the affected communities, I can assure you that reason I am standing is to ensure that the child poverty is high on the agenda on a daily basis. “I run food banks and, to be perfectly honest, children and young people should not be eating from this form of support on a daily basis. “Addressing child poverty in Scotland requires a sustained, collaborative effort across various sectors and levels of government, with … Continue reading New Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Labour MP betrays all she claims to stand for and votes to keep the cruel two child benefit cap and her £91K job

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Vote for KEEPING child poverty with Labour

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By Professor John Robertson Astonishing! FFS Labour voted against the Scottish Child Payment, plan no reversal of the two-child benefit cap, have voted against free school meals and in Labour Wales, child poverty is far higher, yet the Daily Record allow Brown to lie shamefaced. In the Guardian on June 7th 2024: Local child poverty rates across the UK correlate very strongly with the percentage of families affected by the two-child benefit cap, research has found, indicating that the controversial policy is a key factor behind children growing up in deprivation. The study, carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, will … Continue reading Vote for KEEPING child poverty with Labour

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Do Scotland’s Labour candidates support their leader’s laughing at child poverty and leaving thousands of them in it?

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Here’s Sir Keir, tin-eared and clearly complacent about poverty, laughing at a wee girl talking about her family’s fuel poverty: What kind of people are the Labour candidates in Scotland, if they can keep going behind this horrible man? And, do the Labour candidates in Scotland accept his views on the two child benefit cap? See this from the Canary, today: The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimates that the two child benefit cap impacts 1.5 million children, including 1.1 million children in poverty. Abolishing the cap, CPAG states, would lift 250,000 children out of poverty. And it would improve even worse poverty for … Continue reading Do Scotland’s Labour candidates support their leader’s laughing at child poverty and leaving thousands of them in it?

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Will these Labour candidates in Ayrshire admit that they plan to support £18 billion in cuts to vital public services and to make child poverty even worse?

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Both of the above have been happy recently to accuse the SNP of a failure to eradicate child poverty in Ayrshire, regardless of the unique Child Payment in Scotland and the significantly lower rate of child poverty in Scotland than in England or Wales. In February 2024, The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reported: The Autumn Statement forecasts were predicated on a fresh round of spending cuts. Public sector investment is planned to be frozen in cash terms, whereas maintaining investment (net of depreciation) at its current share of national income in 2028–29 would require an additional £20 billion of spending. … Continue reading Will these Labour candidates in Ayrshire admit that they plan to support £18 billion in cuts to vital public services and to make child poverty even worse?

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Child poverty – Loughborough researchers being used by Scottish media to misinform audiences

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In the Guardian today: Local child poverty rates across the UK correlate very strongly with the percentage of families affected by the two-child benefit cap, research has found, indicating that the controversial policy is a key factor behind children growing up in deprivation. The study, carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, will heap pressure on Labour over the party’s refusal to abolish the cap, which limits universal credit and child tax credit to a family’s first two children, if they come into power. The limit can cost families more than £3,000 a year for each additional child, with … Continue reading Child poverty – Loughborough researchers being used by Scottish media to misinform audiences

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Sorting child poverty the Scottish way – the Archbishop, the Bishop, the thinktank Chief Exec, the editor and Gordon Brown all avoid looking north

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By Professor John Robertson Again, alerted by Dottie’s Phone You won’t be surprised to hear there’s not a word, from this Labour Party elder, of Scotland’s far lower child poverty nor of how the SNP’s child payment is leading to its disappearance in Scotland, nor of Labour’s refusal to end the cruel two-child benefit cap, if elected. Maybe the Archbishop will mention poverty in Scotland and the Child Benefit? Not a word. It turns out the Bishop of Leicester too had a piece in the Guardian yesterday. He doesn’t know about Scotland either, it seems, but does mention Labour, if … Continue reading Sorting child poverty the Scottish way – the Archbishop, the Bishop, the thinktank Chief Exec, the editor and Gordon Brown all avoid looking north

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Labour candidate for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock could not support move to save one thousand seven hundred local children from poverty

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Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Labour candidate, Elaine Stewart, must do what Sir Keir Starmer tells her to do. Any suggestion of disloyalty and she’d be dumped quickly. Last year End Child Poverty made clear the role of the Two Child Benefit Cap in pushing 1.5 million UK children into poverty. There are 1 710 of them in the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency. What would Labour and a Scottish Labour MP do about this? Continue reading Labour candidate for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock could not support move to save one thousand seven hundred local children from poverty