labourpress:

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation state of the nation report, said: 

“A 700,000 increase in the number of children and older people in poverty is totally unacceptable.

“The last seven years of flat-lining wages and austerity cuts, now combined with sharply rising costs of household essentials is a truly terrifying prospect for millions trying to make ends meet. The cuts to Universal Credit, which were not addressed in the recent Budget and mean that ‘work does not always pay’, will push even more children and working age adults into poverty.

"Even the Government’s own social mobility commission has resigned over their failure to act.

"The Prime Minister should stand aside, and let Labour deliver a £10 an hour minimum wage, end zero hour contracts, transform our social security system and build the genuinely affordable homes Britain needs.”