Yvette Cooper launches child poverty petition

Cooper is one of four people in the running to be Labour’s next leader. Today at a leadership hustings in Swindon she will say 4 million children are living in poverty in the UK, 500,000 more than when David Cameron first became Prime Minister. She will point out that in the South West there are already 300,000 children living in poverty and argue that cuts to child tax credits will affect 200 of the lowest income families in the region.

She will also describe Iain Duncan Smith’s announcement that the government will scrap child poverty targets as “shameful”.

Cooper will say:

“There are already 500,000 more children living in absolute poverty than there were in 2010 and the IFS have warned the number of children living in absolute poverty will rise even further. Yet instead of exploring all avenues to tackle this, the Tories are simply removing targets and measures introduced by last Labour Government ahead of their attack on child tax credits. 

“Keeping children in poverty is deeply unfair, holds them back for the future, and is bad for our future economy and society too. 

“It is now clearer than ever that the target of eradicating child poverty by 2020 won’t be met with this Tory Government, so Labour must make it our mission once again. We need a new target to end child poverty in a generation with a new strategy involving businesses, community groups, local councils and the Government working together to help all our children and young people to get on.”