Labour’s missed chance to reduce child poverty

A food bank in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. ‘Labour is sacrificing the poorest children to the Tories’ approach to taxation and fiscal responsibility.’ Photograph: Horst Friedrichs/Alamy

The evidence from the Trades Union Congress and Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) cited in your article exposes the political and economic hole Labour has dug for itself (Low wages under Tories have pushed 900,000 UK children into poverty, report finds, 25 June).

Labour’s commitment to reducing child poverty, reforming benefits and investment in starved public services is dependent solely on achieving economic growth from day one. The longer this takes, the more damaging the consequences for children’s health, education and wellbeing.