Prime Minister challenged on child poverty comment

During today’s PMQ’s, the Prime Minister responded to a question on child poverty by saying: “I don’t believe that any government could have done more to help the people of this country throughout this pandemic."

However, new research by the End Child Poverty Coalition and Turn2us shows that the majority of the country (55%) do not think the government is doing all it reasonable can to tackle child poverty.

Thomas Lawson, chief executive at Turn2us, said: “The government has taken some bold and ambitious actions to stop people from being swept in poverty by this pandemic. However, much more can still be done.

“It is concerning to think the government thinks it has done all it can: the majority of the country thinks the opposite. This should act as a spur for Ministers to double down and focus on solving child poverty. A strong start would be to announce a commitment to the £20 uplift to Universal Credit."

Last year, Boris Johnson was rebuked by the statistics watchdog for his repeated misuse of child poverty statistics. The Statistics Authority upheld a complaint from the End Child Poverty Coalition judging that on three separate occasions his statements on child poverty were ‘incorrect’.