THIRTY-EIGHT religious leaders signed a letter to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor urging them to “act now to secure the futures of tens of millions of kids”.
The letter, which was co-ordinated by the multidenominational Joint Public Issues Team, demands that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves “take decisive motion” and seek “ambitious and artistic” ways to secure additional investment to tackle child poverty.
Signatories include the previous Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams; the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martin Snow, who’s the Church of England’s lead bishop for welfare; all seven bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church; the President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd Richard Andrew; the Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg; the director of Islamic Relief, Zia Salik; and Lord Singh of Wimbledon, a Sikh cross-bench peer.
Noting that the Government’s child-poverty strategy is attributable to be published within the autumn, the letter says: “It is difficult to conceive of an efficient Child Poverty Strategy that doesn’t act on the restrictive profit cap and end the two-child limit.”
Faith groups “have challenged the limit on moral grounds, rejecting the state’s abandonment of third and later children, and the poverty this inevitably causes”, it reads.
“Across our different faiths we share a commitment to human dignity. Poverty tears away at that dignity, robbing people of the chance to live a full life that reflects their inherent value. It is just incorrect that tens of millions of kids are born into families that struggle to cover even the essentials.”
The letter refers to a recent proposal from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) to lift £3.2 billion in gambling levies to fund the abolition of the two-child limit and profit cap, which is supported by the previous Prime Minister Gordon Brown (News, 8 August). In a press release in support of the religious leaders’ letter, Mr Brown said: “Faith groups have an important role to play in solving the endemic problem of kid poverty. Their voices add to a growing chorus calling for the implementation of the federal government’s child poverty review.”
Bishop Snow said that, together with other faith leaders, he was “deeply troubled” by the dimensions of kid poverty in Britain. He said that he welcomed the Government’s first steps to deal with this crisis through breakfast clubs, the expansion of early years provision, and the extension of the Holiday Activities and Food programme.
“In that very same spirit, I encourage the Prime Minister and Chancellor to construct on those measures with an ambitious strategy this autumn,” he said. “Ending the unfair two-child limit and profit cap are essential steps as we try to fulfil our moral obligation to the following generation.”
On Friday, the Archbishop of York visited the Junction Multibank in Middlesbrough and met local leaders, and fogeys affected by child poverty.
During the visit, he commended the work of the Junction Multibank and the work of anti-poverty charities within the Tees Valley. “But the necessity for his or her services shames us as a society,” he said. “As children head back to high school, I hope and pray that the Government will facilitate joined-up policy to deal with systemic failures that cause child poverty, so that every one our kids grow up with hope, dignity, and access to opportunities.”
Since opening last November, the Junction Multibank has distributed 1.5 million items to more that 224,000 individuals.
