Child poverty rises by 200,000 in a year

photo Matt J Newman/Creative Commons (Click to enlarge)

Lucy Nuttall

In the space of just one year, 2014 to 2015, the number of children living in poverty in the UK has risen by a staggering 200,000. This brings the total number to 3.9 million, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

A YouGov survey earlier this year reported that four out of five teachers in England and Wales see children arriving at school hungry. These damning statistics show the abject failure of capitalism to provide a decent standard of living for the 99%.

In response to these rising levels of deprivation, Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb stressed the importance of understanding "the root causes of poverty". His career as a Tory politician revolves around enforcing them! Ceaseless austerity, privatisation and welfare cuts cause immense suffering for ordinary people, transferring wealth from the poorest and most vulnerable to a tiny super-rich minority.

Many Tory policies are a direct attack on poor families, making it an increasingly difficult struggle for parents to provide for their children.

For example, limiting child tax credits and housing benefit to just two children. The draconian Housing Act which will effectively end social housing, crushing working class communities. And the discriminatory bedroom tax punishing social housing tenants, especially households with disabled members.

Children - and all working class people - deserve a life free from poverty. The Socialist Party calls for an immediate Ł10 an hour minimum wage, secure jobs and housing for all, and the reversal of all austerity and privatisation.

We link this to the need for a fundamentally different society, run in the interests of the working class. Only by fighting for a socialist world can we permanently end poverty.

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