The Government’s latest poverty statistics were meant to be released back in April. But they’ve been delayed and delayed, such that they’ve only come out today. Now we know why. They record yet more failure from this multi-talentless government. The amount of children living in poverty rose by 100,000 in 2006-07. Whilst pensioner poverty shot up by 300,000 – the first increase since 1998.
Of course, alleviating poverty is an admirable political cause. Sadly, with this Government, it’s been reduced to a big statistical fiddle – spending £billions to get people from just below a (somewhat arbitrary) income level to just above it. Even so, it’s one of the indicators that Brown so frequently asks us to judge him on. So, judge away…
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