40 per cent of Manchester's children live in poverty says report

Manchester has been named as the North West's child poverty capital, with forty per cent of youngsters within the area covered by the city council in families surviving on less than 60 per cent of median household income.

Moss Side is identified as the worst ward within Manchester with 59 per cent falling into the catagory.Other wards above fifty per cent include Ancoats and Clayton,Newton Heath and Miles Plating,Harpurhey and Hulme.

Across the 10 Manchester authorities in the report from the end child poverty campaign,Salford and Oldham both have 29 per cent withing the category and outside the area,Liverpool is the next worst with 34 per cent.

Commenting on the figures nationally,Alison Garnham, the Campaign’s executive director, said: “The child poverty map paints a stark picture of a socially segregated Britain, where the life chances of millions of children are damaged by poverty and inequality. “The Prime Minister should make a New Year’s resolution to keep his pledge to “make British poverty history” – so that not just children in Witney but children all over Britain can enjoy a childhood free from poverty.”

Here are the figures in full for Manchester Ancoats and Clayton 52% Ardwick 52% Baguley 34% Bradford 49% Brooklands 31% Burnage 37% Charlestown 40% Cheetham 46% Chorlton 12% Chorlton Park 32% City Centre 13% Crumpsall 32% Didsbury East 14% Didsbury West 9% Fallowfield 43% Gorton North 43% Gorton South 41% Harpurhey 50% Higher Blackley 42% Hulme 53% Levenshulme 28% Longsight 39% Miles Platting and Newton Heath 50% Moss Side 59% Moston 30% Northenden 38% Old Moat 44% Rusholme 46% Sharston 41% Whalley Range 28% Withington 27% Woodhouse Park 42%

Coalition is repeating Labour's mistakes on poverty says report

The Coalition Government is repeating the same mistakes as Labour on poverty reduction, according to a new report released today by the Joseph Rowntree foundation.

It's annual assessment of poverty in the UK warns that the Coalition does not have a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy, and relies too much on the tax and benefits system alone to encourage people into work, mistakes also made by Labour.

The authors calls for there to be a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy across all age groups whereas the Coalition, like Labour, has a strategy for child poverty only.

This ignores,says the report, the equally high level of poverty among young adults. It also ignores rising poverty among working-age adults without dependent children, which has risen by 1 million in the last decade.

The report found that in the year to 2009/10, the child poverty rate fell to 29 per cent, the second fall in two years.

Child poverty fell by around one-seventh under the previous Labour Government.

The report finds that like Labour, the Coalition's policies rely too much on the tax and benefits system to encourage people into work. There is not enough emphasis on putting the creation of more and better jobs at the heart of anti-poverty policy.

Millions more jobs are needed in the UK economy. Six million people were under-employed in the first half of 2011,this includes people who are unemployed (2.5m), working part-time but wanting full-time work (1.2m),and those classed as economically inactive but wanting work (2.3m).

Other changes to Tax Credits now mean that an additional 1.4 million households lose over 70p for each extra £1 they earn. Although the report welcomes Universal Credit as a reform heading in the right direction, it still will not address problems with low paid, insecure and dead end jobs. Without solving these problems, poverty can never properly be tackled – over half of all children in poverty are living with a parent who already does paid work.

Report co-author Tom MacInnes commented: '"A conservative estimate is that the country lacks at least four million paid jobs. In this situation, reforms aimed at improving incentives to enter work will increase the number scrambling for vacancies whilst doing next to nothing to reduce poverty".

Cameron returns to a Labour issue

David Cameron's speech on poverty this morning has gone rather unnoticed.

The shadow leader is stepping on sacred Labour ground not doubt following up the attacks over the 10p tax

According to Cameron,

Under Labour, the number of people in severe poverty has risen by 600,000 - and child poverty increased by 100,000 last year.
They have failed because they've concentrated on the symptoms of social breakdown rather than the causes

He said that Brown had "totally failed to tackle the root causes of poverty".

Andrew Sparrow writing in the Guardian though makes a good point

One factor is that globalisation has contributed to astronomic increases in income and wealth for the very richest in society. Labour has done little to cap these increases, but the Conservatives have not proposed measures to redistribute this wealth either.

Fraser Nelson notes

For ten years, instead of tackling poverty, he has used the tax credit system to manipulate the results of this very specific target. And for ten years, the Tories have said nothing. Poverty, they figured, was Labour’s domain.

although

Cameron has a dodgy habit of making speeches like this, then saying nothing for months (ie, his immigration speech last autumn). Lets see if he can finish what he today started

Is it the end of rebellion?

Update

The Labour rebels have withdrawn their budget amendement following Alistair Darling's climb down announcement

Nick Robinson calls it an humiliation for the Prime Minister reminding us that

Gordon Brown had shouted down those who told him there were many, many losers from his last Budget as chancellor and those who told him he faced a real political crisis as a result.
Today he has admitted that they were right and been forced to promise backdated measures to help 60 to 65-year-olds, childless couples and the young who don't benefit from the full minimum wage.

Meanwhile an interesting post from John McDonnell one of the rebels over at comment is free who says

It exemplifies one of the core weaknesses at the heart of Brown's administration at the Treasury, which he has now transferred to No 10. Last year, Labour MPs, the party and policy advisers were not consulted over this proposal and we now know that it came out of the blue to Brown's cabinet colleagues and even Tony Blair.

He compares it to the 75p rise in pensions which Tony Blair had to climb down over and despite all Gordon's messages at the despatch box

After 11 years of New Labour, there are still 3.8 million children living in poverty by the government's own calculation.

I have a feeling that we haven't heard the last