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Child Poverty in the UK

Via Michael Roberts

The continuing scandal of child poverty in the UK - which is accelerating. A new report by former UK PM Gordon Brown.

“• One million children trying to sleep tonight without a bed of their own.
• Two million boys and girls waking up in homes that do not have working washing machines cookers or fridges, never enjoying fresh or hot food, and without soap, shampoo and basic hygiene goods.
• Three million forced to skip breakfast or other meals because there is no food in the house.
• More than four million children officially registered as poor even on the government’s own estimates and based on its chosen definition of what constitutes poverty.

With UK child poverty increasing by over 20 per cent in the past decade our country has seen the biggest increase of all the European countries – and, indeed, all advanced economies.”
What's Brown's answer? End the two-child benefit gap; provide incentives for 'philanthropy' and tax gambling profits.
These are redistributive solutions. They do not answer the question of why working people and their families do not earn enough to feed, clothe and help their children.”
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