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| - The first Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) since the general election, and the first for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer since he took office, took place on Wednesday 24 July.
We followed the proceedings live and, following last night’s vote in the Commons on scrapping the two-child benefit cap, Mr Starmer was pressed on his government’s approach to tackling child poverty. We have taken a look at a couple of claims we thought needed more context.
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Child poverty under Labour
Mr Starmer said “the last Labour government lifted millions of children out of poverty”.
This appears to be correct, but only by one of the two broad measures of poverty—absolute poverty—but the numbers for relative poverty paint a different picture.
Between 1997/98 and 2009/10, the number of children in absolute poverty fell by over two million, both before and after housing costs were factored in.
But the number of children in relative poverty fell by around 800,000 (before housing costs) over this period, and by 300,000 (after housing costs).
It’s worth noting, though, that figures before 2001/02 only covered Great Britain, so the number of children living in poverty in Northern Ireland was not included in the data up to this point. This means the figures for 1997/98 are likely to be understated.
We’ve written about Labour’s record on poverty before, as well as other claims on child poverty and the different metrics used to measure it.
Child poverty in Scotland
Mr Starmer also claimed that “since the SNP came to power, there are 30,000 more children in poverty in Scotland”.
Again this is correct when looking at some but not all measures of poverty; in this case relative poverty, after housing costs. In 2007/08, when the SNP first entered government in Scotland, there were 230,000 children in poverty under this measure, compared to 260,000 in 2022/23 (the most recent year for which data has been published.)
But it’s worth noting that the proportion of children in Scotland living in poverty under this measure in 2022/23 is the same as it was in 2007/08, at 24%.
The number of children living in poverty in Scotland has increased since 2007/08 under all but one measure—absolute poverty before housing costs—which is the same, at 190,000.
The proportion of children living in poverty has also increased under all measures except relative poverty after housing costs over this period.
Different measures show different outcomes…
Mr Starmer appears to have relied on one of the two broad measures of child poverty—absolute poverty—to back up his claim about Labour’s record in government before 2010, and another measure—relative poverty—to criticise the SNP’s record in Scotland.
We think ministers should be clear about which of the government’s official measures of poverty they’re using, and why they’re using it, especially when these different measures can sometimes give a very different impression.
We’ve asked Number 10 for comment and will update this article if we receive a reply.
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