Whatever happened to Labour’s promise to abolish child poverty by this year?

In 1999 Tony Blair promised to end child poverty by this year – so what happened, asks John Rentoul

Tony Blair, New Labour, New Prime Minister, New Ambitious Policy Goals (PA)

The government is on the defensive against a compelling campaign by Marcus Rashford, the footballer, to help children entitled to free school meals to be fed over the holidays. Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, tabled a motion in parliament last week demanding that the government continue the holiday voucher scheme, which was defeated by Conservative MPs, many of them unhappy at being instructed to vote against it.  

Now Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, is threatening to force another vote if Boris Johnson refuses to change his mind before the Christmas holiday. Labour says it intends to increase the pressure on the government “to make tackling child poverty a national priority”. 

Green points out that the last Labour government pledged to end child poverty altogether by 2020, a deadline that has come and gone under a Conservative government with 4.2 million children, 30 per cent of the total, still officially defined as being in poverty.