It’s time to tackle the root causes of poverty

Gordon Brown at the Big Hoose project in Fife, Scotland, which provides food and household goods to people in poverty. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

It is commendable of the Observer to highlight the crisis of child poverty, but the government – and prospective governments – should prioritise tackling the poverty crisis (“Britain 2024: The scandal of child poverty”, Focus and Editorial).

Unfortunately, Rishi Sunak did not address poverty at all when he mapped out his five “priorities” in January 2023, nor did our PM-in-waiting, Keir Starmer, feel that the issue of poverty was important enough for Labour’s six “first steps”. It appears that it requires a former prime minister – Gordon Brown – to become the driving force for ending child poverty, demanding a multibillion-pound package from the state.