John McDonnell: Labour will eliminate in-work poverty over the course of a parliament

Speaking today at the launch of the Resolution Foundation’s Living Standards Audit, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell MP will commit the next Labour government to the ending of in-work poverty over the course of a parliament.

McDonnell will say that Labour’s approach to ending what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation referred to as “the problem of our times” will be threefold:

• Structural changes to the economy: including industrial strategy, a network of regional public banks, expanded trade union rights, a £10ph Real Living Wage, workers on boards and public investment across the country;
  
  
• Public services free at the point of use paid for through taxation: ending austerity in existing public services, free school meals, free buses for young people, free childcare, restoring funding for public libraries, leisure centres and parks;
  
  
• A strong social safety net: stopping the Universal Credit roll-out and fundamental review of our social security system, including an end to sanctions, establishing the principle of universalism and looking after each other in times of need.

McDonnell will also welcome the launch of Resolution Foundation’s Living Standards Audit 2019.

Announcing Labour's commitment to ending in-work poverty over the course of a parliament, John McDonnell is expected to say:

“Behind the concept of social mobility is the belief that poverty is OK as long as some people are given the opportunity to climb out of it, leaving the others behind.

“I reject that completely, and want to see a society with higher living standards for everyone as well as one in which nobody lacks the means to survive or has to choose between life’s essentials.

“A rejection of the belief that it’s OK if your local factory closes, as long as you have cash transfers from the finance sector in the South East or a new warehouse opening on the edge of town paying minimum wage on its zero hour contracts.

“Ending poverty won’t just be done in the workplace: we need to make sure the essentials of life are never denied to people because of their circumstances.

“So parents aren’t forced to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their children or the unemployed teenager doesn’t give up on job interviews because they cost £5 in bus fares each time.

“Labour has already committed ourselves to ending sanctions and bringing Work Capability Assessments in-house by medical professionals. But we also are asking ourselves more fundamental questions.

“We need a structurally different economy, a social safety net of shared public service provision, and of course a financial safety net as well.

“Without any one of these three elements, we will not be able to achieve the sustained eradication of poverty, the dramatic narrowing of inequality, and the transformation of people’s lives that will be the central purpose of the next Labour Government.

“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said last year that “in-work poverty is the problem of our times”.

“I am committing today to ending this modern-day scourge to eliminating in-work poverty by the end of Labour’s first full Parliamentary term.

“We’ll need all three of the policy approaches I’ve outlined to make that happen.

“As Chancellor in the next Labour Government, I want you to judge me by how much we reduce poverty and how much we create a more equal society. By how much people’s lives change for the better. Because that is our number one goal.”

Notes to Editors:

• Resolution Foundation’s Living Standards Audit 2019: 

• Labour announced in June plans to create a new Social Justice Commission to replace the Social Mobility Commission, with a new Minister for Social Justice based in HM Treasury. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP has appointed Lyn Brown MP to lead on this for the Shadow Treasury Team.
  
  

• According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, 8 million people live in poverty in working households, with 58% of those in poverty living in working households:
  
  

• According to Joseph Rowntree Foundation research:
• • Two thirds of children in poverty live in a working family.
  • In the three years to 2016/17 the number of people living in poverty in working families rose by over one million.
  • Cuts announced in the 2015 July Budget mean 3.2 million households will typically be around £50 a week worse off on Universal Credit compared with tax credits – most of them are families with children. The Government has promised transitional protection for those worse-off, but many will slip through the net.
    
    

https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/budget-2018-tackling-rising-tide-work-poverty  

• Labour’s threefold attack on in-work poverty means that tax-benefit analysis does not capture the majority of relevant policies.