From 1945 to 1951, a Labour government, struggling to pay down Britain’s war debts in what became known as the “age of austerity”, created Britain’s welfare state, pioneered a free National Health Service and implemented family allowances. In the 1970s, facing an oil shock and rising deficits, Labour introduced child benefit for 7 million families. By 2010, despite a global financial crisis, the government had raised tax credits from zero in 1997 to £30bn, taking millions of pensioners and children out of poverty.
It is to the credit of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves that within days of entering office, they set up the child poverty review with a remit to ensure an “enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament”. Now, for a fraction of that £30bn spent in 2010, they can resume Labour’s historic role and take 500,000 children out of poverty without dropping manifesto commitments.
