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| Labour will not be able to meet child poverty targets, says thinktank chief | Labour will not be able to meet child poverty targets, says thinktank chief |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Labour has to recognise it will not be able to meet the expensive child poverty targets set by the previous Labour government and must rethink its excessively centralised approach, the head of the leading centre-left thinktank, the IPPR, has said. | Labour has to recognise it will not be able to meet the expensive child poverty targets set by the previous Labour government and must rethink its excessively centralised approach, the head of the leading centre-left thinktank, the IPPR, has said. |
| Nick Pearce's warning came on Monday as he spoke alongside Jon Cruddas, the head of the Labour policy review, at a conference on childhood and the condition of Britain in Manchester. Cruddas is understood to be sympathetic to a new approach to tackling child poverty. | Nick Pearce's warning came on Monday as he spoke alongside Jon Cruddas, the head of the Labour policy review, at a conference on childhood and the condition of Britain in Manchester. Cruddas is understood to be sympathetic to a new approach to tackling child poverty. |
| At the same event Cruddas will set out plans for fathers to be given more opportunities to help in parenthood, including more time to help during pregnancy. | |
| Cruddas has already suggested that the existing child poverty target needs rethinking, saying that it had little popular support, and "the very language of child poverty is now arguably a barrier to progress, rather than a call to action". | |
| Any explicit move to abandon the child poverty target would be highly controversial in the party. | Any explicit move to abandon the child poverty target would be highly controversial in the party. |
| But Pearce, a former No 10 adviser under Gordon Brown, remains highly influential in the Labour party, and his warning that the 2020 child poverty target is all but impossible to meet raises stark questions for the Labour policy review. | But Pearce, a former No 10 adviser under Gordon Brown, remains highly influential in the Labour party, and his warning that the 2020 child poverty target is all but impossible to meet raises stark questions for the Labour policy review. |
| He said Labour's attempt to end child poverty – a relative poverty measure – was so expensive "it was running out of road even before 2008, never mind now". | He said Labour's attempt to end child poverty – a relative poverty measure – was so expensive "it was running out of road even before 2008, never mind now". |
| "At the same time, its highly centralised, even technocratic approach to tackling child poverty failed to speak to people's everyday concerns about childhood, not least those officially labelled as 'poor'. As a result, Labour struggled to secure widespread public support for its ambitions or mobilise families and communities behind them. Contrast this to the popular attachment generated for the newly created Children's Centres." | "At the same time, its highly centralised, even technocratic approach to tackling child poverty failed to speak to people's everyday concerns about childhood, not least those officially labelled as 'poor'. As a result, Labour struggled to secure widespread public support for its ambitions or mobilise families and communities behind them. Contrast this to the popular attachment generated for the newly created Children's Centres." |
| Labour, facing mounting questions over the practical steps it will take to reduce the deficit, will find it difficult to avoid this argument now it has been so openly aired by Pearce. | Labour, facing mounting questions over the practical steps it will take to reduce the deficit, will find it difficult to avoid this argument now it has been so openly aired by Pearce. |
| The IPPR director appeared to criticise the target – to eliminate child poverty by 2020 and now enshrined in statute – as wrong in policy design as well as prohibitively expensive. | The IPPR director appeared to criticise the target – to eliminate child poverty by 2020 and now enshrined in statute – as wrong in policy design as well as prohibitively expensive. |
| He said: "The particular focus on internationally accepted definitions of poverty, while unimpeachable in social policy terms, pushed Labour ministers to prioritise short-term increases in cash benefits over long-term investment and reform to raise employment and wages among parents. This left the strategy too reliant on the beneficence of the next budget and blown away by the fiscal implications of the financial crash. Families could end up as passive recipients of cash benefits, with some feeling trapped in low pay and dependency." | He said: "The particular focus on internationally accepted definitions of poverty, while unimpeachable in social policy terms, pushed Labour ministers to prioritise short-term increases in cash benefits over long-term investment and reform to raise employment and wages among parents. This left the strategy too reliant on the beneficence of the next budget and blown away by the fiscal implications of the financial crash. Families could end up as passive recipients of cash benefits, with some feeling trapped in low pay and dependency." |
| He added: "Labour could not plausibly commit the kind of resources required to achieve the 2020 targets through higher public spending." He said Labour should admit the target would take longer or different, less statist means would be deployed. | He added: "Labour could not plausibly commit the kind of resources required to achieve the 2020 targets through higher public spending." He said Labour should admit the target would take longer or different, less statist means would be deployed. |
| He argued: "It is ultimately parents and their wider family and friendship networks that matter most. A good childhood is only possible if families live strong common lives with others. Institutions like Children's Centres support community life better than income transfers." | |
| He said shifting the UK towards this kind of model would mean prioritising investment in childcare, paid leave and employment programmes over cash benefits. | He said shifting the UK towards this kind of model would mean prioritising investment in childcare, paid leave and employment programmes over cash benefits. |
| In a joint article written for the IPPR journal Juncture, Cruddas and Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, claim: "Campaigners took much comfort from securing cross-party support for the Child Poverty Act in the last parliament. But this government has moved away from the targets that were set out in a piece of legislation that some now see as embodying the limits of an empirical rather than emotional approach (and has in any case been overwhelmed by the economic headwinds of the last few years)." | In a joint article written for the IPPR journal Juncture, Cruddas and Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, claim: "Campaigners took much comfort from securing cross-party support for the Child Poverty Act in the last parliament. But this government has moved away from the targets that were set out in a piece of legislation that some now see as embodying the limits of an empirical rather than emotional approach (and has in any case been overwhelmed by the economic headwinds of the last few years)." |
| In his speech on Monday Cruddas will say that for too long the debate about fatherhood has been dominated by Conservative stereotypes about a feckless underclass of absent dads. Instead, Labour will be discussing what more the government can do to help the majority of fathers to play a role in their children's lives, but who increasingly feel the system does not help them do so. | In his speech on Monday Cruddas will say that for too long the debate about fatherhood has been dominated by Conservative stereotypes about a feckless underclass of absent dads. Instead, Labour will be discussing what more the government can do to help the majority of fathers to play a role in their children's lives, but who increasingly feel the system does not help them do so. |
| He will say that as part of developing a more family-friendly economy Labour is exploring whether expectant fathers should have the same statutory right to paid time off work as women to attend key antenatal appointments. He will claim: "The challenge of modern fatherhood isn't one about some imagined underclass; it's about fathers up and down the country who want to do the right thing but can't. | |
| "The failure of our economy has left us with a living standards crisis, but it has also put pressure on modern parenthood. Too often that has meant women dropping out of the labour market, and fathers feeling that it is simply not possible for them to spend time with their children." | "The failure of our economy has left us with a living standards crisis, but it has also put pressure on modern parenthood. Too often that has meant women dropping out of the labour market, and fathers feeling that it is simply not possible for them to spend time with their children." |