Child poverty

Today

Mani Basharzad

Can seven million households really not afford a toothbrush?

From our UK edition

What if I told you that seven million households in this country ‘can’t afford a toothbrush’? It wouldn’t pass the smell test. But what if I told you the figure came from a highly respected research organisation? Treating contested statistics as national emergencies is a poor basis for making public policy The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has concluded that 7.4 million ‘low-income families’ have been unable to afford essential items at some point during the past six months. It says this is the highest figure since it began conducting the survey in 2021. Alfie Stirling, the economist behind the research, has described the findings as a ‘national emergency’. But is that what the evidence shows? It has certainly been presented that way.

Wednesday

Tim Shipman

PMQs: at least Kemi is enjoying herself

From our UK edition

15 min listen

It was PMQs today and it is clear to see that Kemi Badenoch is starting to enjoy herself. She opened with the departure of the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), as it allowed her to suggest that Starmer was dodging taking responsibility himself. She asked: ‘Does the Prime Minister believe that when an organisation descends into total shambles, the person at the top should resign?’ To be fair, she has lots of ammunition between the leaks, botched Budgets and Cabinet discontent – however, the leader of the opposition does seem to be hitting her stride just at the moment when the Tories are enjoying a modest bump in the polls. Can she keep it up?

Monday

Stephen Daisley

Nicola Sturgeon reinvents herself as a social democrat. Again

From our UK edition

It’s the surest sign there’s an election on in Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon has become a social democrat again. Addressing her party’s spring conference today, the SNP leader vowed to double the Scottish child payment to £10 per week for under-16s in low-income families if the Nationalists are returned to government after 6 May. She explained:  ‘I want to make ending child poverty a driving mission for the next parliament. It is time to end the scandal of child poverty, and this will help us do it. And it is a down payment of what will be possible when we have the full powers over tax and social security that only independence can deliver.’ Ending child poverty is a noble aim.