I am genuinely quite shocked that the government has abolished the Child Poverty Unit.
I suppose I should not be: they have already tried to define child poverty out of existence, of course. And they have reduced the staff dedicated to this issue, which was a core New Labour area of concern and where, to be fair, it achieved a lot. But abolishing the unit is not just a reorganisation of tasks, as the government will suggest. It is much more significant than that.
As anyone who has been involved in any form of management knows, what you manage matters. Simply naming an issue as being of concern directs resources towards it. Creating a measure does of itself change outcomes. Attention is focussed as a result.
The inverse is true. De-naming makes clear an issue is no longer important. Other things should take higher priority is the implication. Measures will not be noticed so much now.
But this is child poverty! For heaven's sake, what matters much more than that? We know that tackling child poverty has one of the best outcomes for overall well being. But apparently this government is no longer concerned about it.
I repeat that I am shocked by this. As a symbol of an uncaring, indifferent government this one is hard to beat.
And I regret the loss of well-being for every child that will have lesser life chances as a result. They are the real victims of this, and they will suffer as a result of government choice.
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This is quite shocking but not unexpected I suppose. It highlights the defining difference between the political left & right. The parties on the left may not always be as effective and efficient as one would want. But they are empathetic – the underlying rationale for their existence. The right broadly sees society as a market. When push comes to shove they are quite prepared to sacrifice lives that obstruct or complicate their corporate social management strategy. Of course they deny it. Subconsciously they are afraid of the pitch-forks, as well they should be.
How often we hear the Tories talking about making ‘tough decisions’ on matters like this.
My heart bleeds for them………..NOT.
Is it not sort of funny how the only sort of administration associated with denial and wiping out parts of its history (and effectively re-writing it) was the old Stalinist communist party?
And here are the Tories doing something similar in my view. What is this act trying to tell us about humanity and politics I wonder?
The government’s indifference is indeed deplorable in the face of statistics which are truly shocking. We were repeatedly told during the referendum campaign that the UK was the fifth largest economy in the world and yet we have around 3.7m children (27%) living in poverty and in certain areas of the country the figure is as high as 47%. This is according to a report published by End Child Poverty just a few weeks ago.
http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/poverty-in-your-area-2016/
Not only that but a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies in February this year states that the government’s decision to limit child tax credit and universal credit to families with two offspring from April 2017 will further exacerbate the situation for the poorest households.
http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/comms/R114.pdf
Thanks
If you’re looking for an example of an uncaring, indifferent government, just look at homelessness statistics.
Single mothers and children have been hit particularly hard in what is deliberate impoverishment.
Deliberate, because the welfare and local government cuts – along with inaction in relation to soaring private sector rents – were a matter of choice and economically nonsensical.
The temporary accommodation used to house these victims is more expensive than social housing, and the lower life chances of these children will lead to unfulfilled economic potential.
We could be investing in people – maximising their potential – and we would ALL be economically and socially better off if we did. No man is an island.
(Cc: Labour)
I agree: this feels like my arguments in The Courageous State
Of course the Tories don’t care. They can leave things like that to Charity – I mean once a year there’s the Children in need appeal. What more do you want?
(sarcasm, disgust etc)
But never mind,the government has a 99% success rate in ‘turning round’ ‘troubled families’ – or so it claims. See report on the same page:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/20/troubled-families-government-misled-public-99-success-claim-say-mps
We have a government thats does not scruple to deceive us.
“The Institute for Fiscal Studies was projecting a 50% increase in child poverty by 2020, rather than its elimination”
Goodness what a truly depressing state of affairs.
Those responsible for this appalling position should feel acute shame.
To have widespread poverty and for it to be on the increase in a country as wealthy as ours is utterly indefensible.
There is a soundtrack to this: not a sympathetic violin, but the jeering, braying, sneering cacophony of Conservative backbenchers whenever anybody mentions poverty, destitution and disability in the House.
It is the sound of victory, for now, for a sociopathic disregard towards humanity, morality and society.
Could it be that the abolition of child poverty measures serves their economic agenda?
Could it be that some of them are disappointed, it being such a pleasure to give voice to their triumph, and they will be reduced to finding something else to jeer at?
Could it be that someone with an ear for the PR has recognised the soundtrack as an electoral liability?
Good luck to them with that – they have a good enough approximation to a working conscience to pass as civil human beings – and they have missed the point that issuing official statistics is the key to framing the debate.
Now we get to see statistics compiled by independent bodies, or interested parties who do not step back from reporting malnutrition and disease; and, quite possibly, we get to hear the soundtrack, and the intensity of the obscene delight behind it, turned up to the noises of an orgy in a barnyard.
We are naught but farm animals to them. We should accept this and expect appropriate treatment. It’s increasingly something they simply aren’t bothering to hide any more.
Do we really need to hijack the word “poverty”? Call it what it is which is inequality. Inequality is unacceptable but posters constantly trying to blur inequality with absolute poverty just makes people turn a blind eye.
Where’s the investigation into Tory election expenses when you need it?
Upon reflection it maybe that the indifference to child poverty is just part of yet another ‘nudge’ policy – by making certain things harder the Tories hope to encourage people not to do them.