Can you believe it?

Can you believe it - last year the number of children living in poverty in this country actually increased? (The number rose by about 100,000.) We have become so accustomed to the annual trumpeting of progress, that we could have imagined he said the same again this year. He didn't, because the number has gone up!

The left like to talk about poverty when really they are talking about relative poverty, defined as having an income below an arbitrarily percentage of average income. Living standards have risen generally and even the absolute poorest have enjoyed some measure of increase in living standards. But if they want to define poverty in such a way that it will always exist, and give employment and an axe to grind for many left-wing sociologists and others, fine.

But it means that New Labour(Brownism) is now in real danger of failing to reach its objectives, of halving child poverty by 2010 and abolishing(!) it by 2020.

At the moment a number of things decided by Brown/Darling are making the objective less likely to be achieved. The sleight of hand in his final budget made Brown appear brilliant for about 15 seconds - cutting standard rate to 20%, while at the same time abolishing the 10% band. It does not need a mathematician to show that those who lost most were the lowest paid, and those who gained most were those earning in excess of £17,000.

(Given the present level of minimum wage level, its recipients in a 40 hour week would earn over £10,000 a year, and perhaps half of this would be taxed. These are the main losers of Brown's budgetary wizardry!)

As if nothing had been learned, in Darling's autumn statement were announced cuts in inheritance tax. These would help middle and high earners, with little reaching the poor.

It is not surprising that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has recently criticised the Prime Minister bitterly, from their self-appointed brief to watch over poverty. They and others are concerned that no new policies have been produced to benefit the "poor", and they are calling for new investment (code-ward for extra spending on benefits.). The Prime Minister at the moment is desperately trying to save money in all directions, because of his mounting debt, so it is difficult to see where he will find money for the poor. Perhaps the troops could be instructed to shout "Bang" and save a few bullets?