Liberal Democrats launch radical plans to tackle poverty and inequality

6.22.51pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 27th Jul 2007

"The Liberal Democrat vision is of a society of genuine opportunity." - David Laws MP

Radical new proposals to reduce poverty and tackle inequality in Britain were revealed today by the Liberal Democrats. The plans aim to reverse Gordon Brown's dependency culture by giving people educational and employment opportunities as well as incentives to work and save.

Five million people will be lifted out of relative poverty, with 10 million fewer means-tested benefits in payment, by 2020.

The proposals contained in the policy document Freedom from Poverty, Opportunity for All: Policies for a fairer Britain include:

• Introducing a 'pupil premium', with £1.5bn extra targeted at the children with the greatest need. The Pupil Premium will give more money to pupils from the poorest backgrounds and help bring funding in the most needy state schools up to private school levels.

• Reforming tax credits by ending the overpayments crisis and taking higher earners out of the system all together.

• Increasing Child Benefit by around £5 per family per week, taking 150,000 children out of poverty.

• Replacing Job Centre Plus with a new 'First Steps' agency to be a single one-stop-shop for all benefit and tax credit claims, while outsourcing properly funded employment support to the private and voluntary sector. A single working age benefit would also be introduced.

• Immediately restoring the earnings link to the basic state pension and in the long run introducing a citizens' pension. Establishing an Independent Commission on Public Sector Pensions to ensure that they are fair and affordable - with any savings re-invested in a higher state pension.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws MP said:

"Under Gordon Brown, Britain remains a society of massive inequalities of both income and opportunity. It is a national disgrace that Britain is the developed country where your chances in life are most dependent on your family background rather than your own abilities and hard work.

"This radical new agenda to combat poverty rejects Gordon Brown's blueprint for a state of dependency, where the spread of mass means-testing undermines incentives to work, save and even form stable families.

"Meanwhile, David Cameron's plan seems to be for a great leap backwards to the failed policies of Victorian Britain.

"The Liberal Democrat vision is of a society of genuine opportunity where instead of treating the symptoms of inequality, we treat its causes - poor educational opportunities, unemployment, bad housing and unstable families.

"Our pupil premium would help to tackle disadvantage where it matters most - in education from the very first days in school. Our aspiration is that the most deprived pupils have the same financial backing as those privileged enough to go to private school."

Related Links:

Freedom from Poverty, Opportunity for All: Policies for a fairer Britain.

Liberal Democrats on Pensions and Benefits.