New figures show Labour's 'scandalous' record on poverty is getting even worse - Kevin Lang

6.01.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 10th Jun 2008

Kevin Lang and the Liberal Democrats have a clear plan to tackle child poverty

Local Liberal Democrat Kevin Lang has hit out at the 'scandalous' record of the UK Labour Government after new figures showed an increase in the number of children and pensioners living in poverty.

New statistics published today by the Department for Work & Pensions have shown that the number of children living in poverty rose by 100,000 in 2006-2007 to 2.9 million before housing costs. This is the second year in a row that child poverty has increased.

Pensioner poverty increased for the first time since 1998, rising by 300,000 to a total of 2.5 million.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Kevin Lang has made the tackling of poverty a central issue in his campaign in Edinburgh North & Leith.

He said, "The Labour Government have called these figures disappointing. I call them scandalous. In particular, I fail to understand why Britain, as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, should have one in five of its children living in poverty. The target of halving child poverty by 2010 now looks increasingly unachievable.

"Worst of all, Labour are taking action that is making this problem worse, not better. The recent decision to scrap the 10p income tax rate, a proposal loyally backed by Edinburgh North & Leith's local Labour MP, has hit many on those on low and fixed incomes. Labour insistence on forcing pensioners to claim degrading means tested benefits rather than providing a decent state pension has also failed to tackle the issue of pensioner poverty.

"It seems this Labour Government no longer cares about tackling poverty and is no longer competent to help society's most vulnerable."

The Liberal Democrats are committed to meeting the 2020 Child Poverty target. They would focus Tax Credits on

those with lower incomes and return to six monthly fixed awards which would deliver greater financial stability for vulnerable families, avoiding overpayments. They would also increase Child Benefit by around £5 for the first child making all families £250 a year better off. This would also reach those families who are not claiming Tax Credits (take up is around 80%).

For pensioners, the Liberal Democrats would immediately restore the earnings link to the Basic State Pension, and within two parliaments would bring in a Citizen's Pension that will be paid to all UK citizens meeting a residency test. The Citizen's Pension will reduce the number of pensioners facing means-testing in retirement from up to 50% to less than 10% - restoring the incentives to save.

The Liberal Democrat policy to scrap Council Tax and replace it with a Local Income Tax would mean many

families and pensioners would not pay anything at all.