A new leader, but still New Labour. Continuity, not radical change. Yet the moment of leadership change is surely one to seize: a one-off opportunity for a visionary restatement of the government’s boldest aspirations – more equality, social justice and, at last, an end to poverty.
It was, after all, on a platform of tackling injustice and inequality that Labour swept to power in 1997, with popular and groundbreaking policies like the Human Rights Act, the New Deal to tackle unemployment, and the introduction of the minimum wage. These bold and radical initiatives recognised the right of every individual to share in the country’s prosperity, offering a new vision of a society for ‘the many, not the few’ that the electorate embraced. But now, despite much that has been achieved since 1997 to tackle poverty and inequality, it is David Cameron’s Conservatives who seem to have captured the debate.
Labour ministers talk much of choice, respect and responsibility, but there is little left of the inspiring vision of justice and equality that New Labour once so boldly expressed, and to which so many aspired. Instead, a micro-management emphasis on ‘personalisation’, ‘modernisation’, and ‘reform’ has created an impression of a government whose policies have somehow failed. They’ve lost confidence in their vision, run out of big ideas, and now blame the poorest for their own misfortune, hardening existing public misconceptions. As ministers talk tough, and tougher for the tabloids, voters, and the party’s own supporters, become increasingly sceptical, disenchanted and dismayed.
It is vital therefore that the new leader seizes the opportunity to articulate a compelling vision for New Labour, to enthuse the public and to challenge the Conservatives (who after all have offered little so far in the way of credible policy substance to back up their new-found interest in social justice). Much more importantly, they will need to restate the central focus on equality, justice and the eradication of poverty at the heart of the government’s agenda. But mere visionary messages will not prove sufficient. If we are to tackle our still shameful level of child poverty, the vision must be supported as a matter of urgency by effective and radical policies to back it up. For Britain’s 3.4 million children growing up below the poverty line, actions will speak louder than words.
Having just missed its first target to reduce child poverty by one quarter by 2004/2005, the government’s next target, to halve child poverty by 2010, is moving even further out of reach. Despite good progress in lifting 700,000 children out of poverty since 1999 – through new tax credits, more parents in work and substantial new investment in schools, childcare, and crucial early-years provision – one in four of our children are still growing up below the poverty line, and the UK’s child poverty rate remains one of the highest in Europe. There is still much more to be done.
If poverty is to be truly eradicated, and equality and social justice embedded in our society, some core principles will need to inform future policy: an income for every family adequate to raise children; the chance for every child to fulfil his or her potential; and a rights-based welfare state which protects everyone from poverty, and in which everyone has a stake. These are the prerequisites for a society in which equality and justice come first.
There is an early, bold and effective policy initiative that would both demonstrate and achieve this – a ‘first 100 days’ landmark announcement to make us sit up and take notice, showing the new leader’s determination to end child poverty and value every child. A substantial increase in universal child benefit would lift 250,000 children above the poverty line. Making child benefit count for every child would be popular, highly effective in reaching the poorest families, and would give huge credibility to the government’s commitment to the wellbeing of children and its goal of ending child poverty. Reaching nearly every family with children, it would restate the role of a welfare system from which all have the right to security, and it would put the government back on track to meet its target of halving child poverty by 2010.
Most importantly, it would form a sound foundation for achieving the most ambitious of New Labour’s pledges, and one with which Gordon Brown has been personally so closely associated: the eradication of child poverty within a generation. For a government that must re-energise its supporters and re-enthuse a sceptical electorate, failure to achieve that would be a political disaster. But the improvement in millions of children’s lives that will benefit Britain well into future generations is the legacy that will matter most.