Labour has a groundbreaking plan for child poverty. Finally, this government has found its mission | Polly Toynbee

"Once Labour set up a child poverty taskforce, it was predestined that the two-child benefit limit would be abolished. Every authority consulted confirmed it as the fastest way to rescue the most children from a life of direst poverty. Every authority, that is, except the general public, who oppose removing the cap by 56% to 31%, YouGov finds."

"All the many measures in this far-reaching policy will lift 550,000 children above the poverty line by 2030 the most achieved within one parliament. But that leaves behind about 4 million poor children living without the basics. That still makes us among the most unequal and most poverty-stricken of similar European countries. This is a major factor in why British five-year-olds have now become up to 7cms shorter than children of the same age in Europe."

"It's a story so familiar that it's easy to be numbed into accepting that a third of the children around us are poor, often without adequate food or heating, many without a home, with no internet connection for homework and no joining in what classmates take for granted: my holiday. Labour governments don't hide these brutish facts of British life. The government's new strategy lays bare our social disgrace in painful detail, promising annual updates on all the causes, effects and remedies."

A child poverty taskforce determined that abolishing the two-child benefit limit is the fastest way to rescue the most children from extreme poverty, with nearly all consulted authorities in agreement. Public opinion opposes removing the cap by 56% to 31% according to YouGov. The proposed measures would lift 550,000 children above the poverty line by 2030, yet about 4 million children would remain without basics, leaving Britain among the most unequal and poverty-stricken comparable European countries. Child health and development suffer, exemplified by five-year-olds being up to 7cm shorter than European peers. The government promises annual updates on causes, effects and remedies.

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