Bird warns that unless the government acts now, they will not hold back the rise of Reform at the next general election.
Lord John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, is calling on the government to take more robust action to address the growing crisis of poverty in the UK.
He warns that unless the government acts now, they will not hold back the rise of Reform at the next general election.
Bird has tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently preparing for committee stage in the House of Lords. His amendment would require the government to set legally binding targets to reduce child poverty, placing a statutory duty on ministers to act.
The Big Issue is campaigning for a ‘Poverty Zero’ law, which would establish formal poverty reduction targets across the UK.
Recent polling by the street-based magazine shows a rise in public concern about poverty. Disapproval over how poverty is being handled has risen by 18% in the past six months. The survey also found that 70% of UK adults believe Labour should be doing more to combat poverty.
Lord John Bird said: “As the local elections showed, the big question for Labour now is how to stop a mass exodus of its supporters defecting to their rivals.
“That’s no easy task when so many issues divide the British public, but as our poll shows, on one issue they are united – there must be more done for the 14 million people in poverty in this country.”
He continued that his amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would mean all future governments will be held to account on reducing child poverty.
“It would hold this government’s feet to the fire in taking long-term, truly preventative action for the 4.3 million children in this country who currently live in poverty, and signal to the UK public that they are finally taking poverty seriously,” Bird added.
A government spokesperson said: “No child should be living in poverty, which is why we have already taken wide-ranging action to break the unfair link between background and opportunity, led by our cross-government child poverty taskforce.
“We know that the best route out of poverty for struggling families is well-paid, secure work, so through our plan for change we are reforming our broken welfare system, so it helps people into good jobs, boosting living standards and putting money in people’s pockets.
“We have also tripled investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, with delivery of free meals and childcare already in 750 schools, increased pupil premium to over £3 billion and supported 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a fair repayment rate on Universal Credit deductions to help low-income households.”
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