UK government to put more children in poverty

The British government’s squeeze on tax credits and benefits is to put a further 200,000 children in poverty, the government has declared for the first time.

The government’s plan to limit annual increases in working-age benefits to 1 percent for the next three years is expected to raise the number of poor children in Britain by 2020.

The work and pensions minister, Esther McVey, estimated that “the uprating measures … will result in around an extra 200,000 children being deemed by this measure to be in relative income poverty.”

Criticizing the government, the Labour Party said the figures showed children were victims of the Conservatives’ “political games”.

“The true character of this Conservative-led government has now been exposed. While they give the richest 2 percent of earners a £3 billion tax cut, 200,000 children will be pushed into poverty and millions of working families made worse off,” shadow chancellor Ed Balls said.

A vote for a cap on benefit handouts was passed by majority of 56 in the Commons on January 8, despite a move by some Labour and Liberal Democrats to block it.