Despite the Chancellor's claim that his Budget gives every child the best chance in life, child poverty campaigners say it fails the country's poorest families.
Gordon Brown is the champion of the policy to eradicate child poverty by 2020. When it was announced that the Government had missed its first interim target of cutting child poverty by a quarter between 1998/99 and 2004/05, hopes were raised that Mr Brown might use the Budget to get back on track for the next goal of halving child poverty by 2010.
'The Government has pledged to redouble its efforts towards eradicating child poverty in the UK,' says Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK. 'Although there are new measures announced in the Budget that will help those closest to the poverty line, our research shows that this Government is still completely failing to reach those in severe poverty. This Budget falls far short of the help that the poorest children need.'
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