
Drop in child poverty in Scotland since targets introduced
The magazine said its study highlighted why Westminster should implement similar poverty reduction targets.
Its analysis of UK child poverty statistics found that the assent of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 was a 'parting of the ways' for the different home nations' trajectories on child poverty.
The report said a cyclical target-setting method would translate Labour's stated ambition of 'enduring poverty reduction' into concrete, measurable steps.
Lord John Bird, Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, said: 'With child poverty in England and Wales predicted to rise to new pernicious highs, we cannot accept rhetoric in place of real change – we must demand sustained, legislative action.
'Parliamentarians possess the authority to drive this transformation. Let us not look back and regret another missed opportunity. The time has come to stop simply managing poverty and to begin ending it.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Telegraph
12 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Labour's Civil Service proposals are unfair and misguided
That the Civil Service is in dire need of a shake-up is accepted, at this point, across much of Westminster. The frustrations are justified. The public sector is, as George Staunton found Imperial China, felt to be staffed by those who feel that 'everything is excellent' and 'proposals for improvement would be superfluous'. This agreement stretches only as far as the sense that something must change, however. The proposals on the table for reform are deeply contested, and potentially harmful. Labour's proposal to limit Civil Service internships to those from ' lower socio-economic backgrounds ' is a retrograde step which would impoverish the pool of talent available to ministers by restricting entry based on family circumstance, and would represent another blow to the idea that parents should work for their children's futures. The Government would be better advised to hark back to the Northcote-Trevelyan report, which attempted to address a Civil Service which attracted the 'unambitious', 'indolent' and 'incapable' who did not fancy 'the competition of their contemporaries', but were attracted by 'the comparative lightness of the work'. The solutions put forward included, among other things, entrance examinations open to all, merit-based promotion, and ensuring that civil servants were fully employed to the full extent of their abilities. Such an embrace of meritocracy would surely be morally and practically preferable to further clumsy attempts at social engineering.


Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Free The Donald
The talk among Maga supporters at Turnberry Golf Club this week was whether Donald Trump should be offered the freedom of the City of London on his State visit next month. The Honorary Freedom has never been awarded to a sitting US president. One City figure tells me: 'This would be a unique honour, and it is tied to our history with a focus on trade.' But the Corporation of London sounds lukewarm. A spokesman says: 'By convention, only heads of state or government who have served a minimum of seven years in office are eligible to be considered for the Honorary Freedom.' Any decision must be approved by the Court of Common Council, he adds, and it will not meet until next month. Surely this is the time to waive conventions? False flag I was one of the lucky reporters in the room when Donald Trump met Sir Keir Starmer at Turnberry on Monday. It felt like our PM was visiting Trump in the US, even though we were in Scotland. And no wonder: the US flag was flown on the left of the Union flag, meaning that the Stars and Stripes was 'the senior national flag', according to guidance from the Flag Institute. Was this a diplomatic snub? Joanna's marriage secret Dame Joanna Lumley has been married to conductor Stephen Barlow for almost 40 years, which has ensured that barely any modern-day pop music is played behind closed doors. 'I'm married to a classical musician, so we don't really have popular music in the house very often,' the Ab Fab actress, 79, explains on Radio 2. 'I stopped at about The Everly Brothers, really.' Awks in Ambridge Snogging your girlfriend in Ambridge is 'horrendously awkward' says Taylor Uttley, who plays Brad Horrobin and is in an air relationship with Mia Grundy on Radio 4's The Archers. He says: 'You have to time a kiss on the back of your hand at the same time, relative to the same microphone. So you have to look between you and go OK 'one, two, three and then do that'. That's awful.' Awks! Tarrant's TV exit Former Tiswas and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter Chris Tarrant does not miss being on TV shows. He says: 'I spent 50 years on them. I'd rather be fishing or going somewhere nice with my old lady or my kids.' Tarrant says he is still asked to do 'dreadful things' including The Masked Singer. But he says. 'It's a naff idea. I can't believe they make it. And what's next? You know, The Masked Chef, The Masked Knife Juggler. What else are they going to do?' Tarrant adds: 'My missus says to me 'It would reignite your career' but the last thing I want to do is reignite my career. I'm trying to stop.' Shy Michael Former Conservative MP Sir Michael Fabricant has hit back against campaigners who want to cancel naked bike rides which happen in UK, Birmingham and Cardiff. 'These are just a bit of fun,' Fabricant, 75, told the BBC. 'These are fairly innocent events. If you don't want to see bits and pieces wobbling around, don't look.' The nearest Fabricant got to riding naked was when he was cycling alone for charity. He says: 'I had tiny little shorts on or I would have been arrested.' Why so modest Fabbers? Cleanshaven Philp Shadow home secretary Chris Philp shaved off his beard before the last general election, prompting speculation that it was a turn-off for voters. 'No, that is not true,' he told me on GB News' Chopper's Political Podcast. 'I did suffer a backlash on the beard, but it came amongst others from my 12-year-old daughter and unfortunately, faced by a backlash from my 12 year old daughter, the beard had to go.' Travelling light Peterborough readers have been sending in their packing tips for travelling light, following actor Nigel Havers' example. David Shaw tries to 'halve the amount of clothes and double the amount of money' he is taking just before he sets off, while Michael Weeden said: 'I can think of nothing more efficient, than going to a naturist resort and packing just a bottle of good sun cream.' John Turner was so inspired he wrote a long poem, ending: 'So, now I've made a rational decision/whenever I go wandering from home./ Be it Blackpool or Bahamas,/ I have had my share of dramas;/ It's pyjamas, a toothbrush and a comb.'


Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Scottish Tories eye Reform electoral pact
Senior Scottish Conservatives have discussed striking an electoral pact with Reform UK for the Holyrood elections next spring. One figure backing a deal told The Telegraph it could help avoid splitting the vote on the Right and kick the SNP out of power in Scotland. The deal, which would not need to be made public, would see the Tories either not stand candidates or go easy in areas where Reform is better placed to win and vice versa. It comes as Nigel Farage 's party sits above the Conservatives in third place in opinion polls for the Scottish Parliament elections next May. A pact does not have the backing of Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory leader, whose team released a statement ruling out the possibility when approached by The Telegraph. But the fact a deal is being considered at senior levels in the party underscores the scale of Reform's popularity surge north of the border and the concerns it has triggered among Tories. In Scotland, Reform now has 15 councillors, 14 of whom used to be Conservatives. It is in marked contrast to other political parties previously run by Mr Farage, such as the UK Independence Party (Ukip), which struggled to get a foothold north of border. One Tory MSP has privately spoken of a defection 'watch list' in Holyrood of those suspected of switching to Reform. Mr Farage also waved away the idea he would agree to any such pact, telling The Telegraph: 'No chance. The Tories are dying in Scotland and I've got no desire to do a deal with them whatsoever.' The idea of some form of agreement, public or private, between the Conservatives and Reform has become a common discussion point in Westminster. Average UK-wide voting polls have Reform in first place on 30 per cent of the vote, with the Tories in a distant third on 17 per cent. Labour is in second place on 22 per cent. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has ruled out a pre-vote deal with Mr Farage, but speculation continues with the next general election not due until 2029. The recent by-election result for the Scottish Parliament seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse underscored the challenges of Right-wing parties splitting the vote. Labour won the seat with 32 per cent of the vote, followed by the SNP on 29 per cent. Reform came third on 26 per cent. Had the Tories, who got 6 per cent, not stood a candidate, it is possible Reform would have beaten Labour and taken the seat, though pollsters often caution against hard conclusions when predicting voter behaviour. Mr Farage has agreed to election pacts before. The Brexit Party, the precursor to Reform which Mr Farage led, had criticism of the Tory handling of the issue of Europe as its heart. Yet he still agreed not to stand candidates against sitting Conservatives at the 2019 general election to help Boris Johnson win and get a Brexit deal through the Commons, securing the UK's departure from the European Union. Despite interest in some quarters of the Scottish Conservative Party, other figures strongly played down the possibility of a pact. One Scottish Tory politician who has spent years in influential positions said: 'Churchill's phrase comes to mind, 'You don't negotiate with a tiger when your head's in its mouth'. We're in competition with Reform – we're not in partnership with them.' The source said Scottish Tory supporters had brought up the prospect of a deal with Reform but that there was little chance it would be adopted by the leadership. Another senior Scottish Tory said: 'Why would Reform do a deal? I can see why we might be interested in it, but why would they?' There have long been suspicions on the Right of coordination between Labour and the Liberal Democrats at general elections to maximise the chances of Tory defeats. The Lib Dems surged from winning 11 MPs at the 2019 general election to 72 MPs at the 2024 general election with almost no increase in overall vote share. The party's strategists have talked about how they ruthlessly focused on a small number of winnable seats rather than competing hard everywhere. Labour was likely to have benefited from the decreased campaigning in non-target seats. But there are reasons why striking some form of deal would be less likely in elections for the Scottish Parliament than the UK-wide Parliament in Westminster. The electoral system for the Scottish Parliament has a proportional element, meaning as well as individual constituency races a party wins some MPs for their overall vote totals. Reform, whose strategists hope to get between 10 and 20 MSPs next spring, is expected to get their victories almost entirely via this way, known as 'the list', rather than winning constituencies. That could provide a disincentive to strike a deal with the Tories, given a lower overall vote total would likely mean fewer MSPs thanks to this proportion element of the election. In polling for next spring's Scottish Parliament elections, Reform is on around 17 per cent, above the Tories on around 12 per cent. The SNP is top, followed by Labour. A year ago, it looked likely that Labour could win power in Scotland but a support slump since Sir Keir Starmer took office last summer means the SNP is now well-placed to remain in office. A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: 'Nigel Farage has said he is content with the SNP winning another five years in power and Reform stood multiple pro-independence candidates in the general election, so no, this won't be happening. 'The Scottish Conservatives want to get the SNP out of power, while Reform will gladly help the nationalists.'