‘A Labour government would focus on ending poverty just as strongly as Tony Blair’s 1997 administration, Keir Starmer has said, as he set out the last of five self-declared missions, based around education and opportunity’ (The Guardian, 6 July).
We should recall former UK Labour Party Leader/Prime Minister Blair’s contribution to solving the ‘problem’ of child poverty, and place it in historical context:
1838: Oliver Twist asked for more.
1904: Over 100,000 school children did in London alone.
1965: Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) formed.
1997: UK had the highest rate of child poverty in the industrialised world
1999: UK PM Blair ‘Our historic aim will be for ours to be the first generation to end child poverty forever, and it will take a generation. It is a twenty-year mission, but I believe it can be done.’
2021: ‘..4 million children living in poverty in the UK, many of whom are not currently receiving Free School Meals.’