New Labour – New Poverty
IN a blow to Gordon Brown, new figures reveal that poverty is on the increase in these fair isles for the first time in six years, news that reflects rather badly on the Chancellor.
The Guardian reports that the official figures, released by the government, show that the number of people living in poverty – calculated as those living on 60% of average incomes – rose to 12.7 million in 2005/06 from 12.1 million the previous year while the number of children living in poor families rose by 200,000 to 3.8 million.
Jim Murphy, the Minister for Welfare Reform tried to spin the dismal figures, “Despite these figures”, he faffed, “we have, over the past decade, had the fastest falling levels of child poverty in Europe”.
While that well-known friend of the poor, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, lambasted the findings, “We need a different approach. Simply throwing money at the problem has failed”.
I for one would be delighted if they threw some money at me.
Posted: 28th, March 2007 | In: Money Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
