Why academics across the UK are refusing to let Boris Johnson’s inaction on child poverty slide

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Marcus Rashford’s calls for free meal vouchers to be extended into the school holidays led to a welcome government U-turn. But as Rashford points out, tackling child poverty requires much greater policy effort than this.

In last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, for the second week running, Boris Johnson presented statistics on child poverty that have no basis in fact – not just selective with the truth, but simply wrong.

The government’s own official statistics show that child poverty rose under both the Coalition and the Conservatives on a range of measures, and before any impact of the Covid-19 lockdown.

There were 500,000 more children living in relative poverty in 2018-19 than 2010-11, measured either before or after housing costs, while the number in “absolute” poverty had increased by 100,000.

To see the prime minister abuse and ignore official data without apparent concern for repercussions demeans his office and undermines the authority of national statistics across the board. It also distracts from the real issue – the urgent need to tackle and prevent child poverty.

We would like to see the prime minister spend less time searching for an elusive indicator which paints the government in a better light, and more time focusing on how to address a scourge which blights children’s lives, limits their opportunities, and for which there are known and effective policy solutions.

Dr Kitty Stewart, LSE
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw (Emeritus), University of York
Professor Nick Bailey, University of Glasgow
Professor Glen Bramley, Heriot-Watt University
Dr Tania Burchardt, LSE
Dr Kerris Cooper, LSE
Professor David Gordon, University of Bristol
Professor Paul Gregg, University of Bristol
Professor Susan Harkness, University of Bristol
Dr Rod Hick, University of Cardiff
Professor John Hills, LSE
Professor Donald Hirsch, Loughborough University
Professor Elaine Kempson (Emeritus), University of Bristol
Professor the Baroness Ruth Lister (Emeritus), Loughborough University
Dr Gill Main, University of Leeds
Professor Alan Marsh (Emeritus), Policy Studies Institute
Dr Abigail McKnight, LSE
Professor Jane Millar, University of Bath
Dr Ruth Patrick, University of York
Professor David Piachaud (Emeritus), LSE
Dr Aaron Reeves, University of Oxford
Professor Karen Rowlingson, University of Birmingham
Professor Tracy Shildrick, University of Newcastle
Professor Stephen Sinclair, Glasgow Caledonian University
Professor Adrian Sinfield (Emeritus), University of Edinburgh
Dr Kate Summers, LSE
Professor Morag Treanor, Heriot-Watt University
Dr Polly Vizard, LSE
Professor Sharon Wright, University of Glasgow

Building our way out of recession?

Boris Johnson’s recent bluster about building Britain’s way out of recession scares the pants off me. Successive governments, including his own, have a disastrous record at procuring major infrastructure projects, and once commissioned, keeping them on time, on budget, and to spec.

What steps will his government take to ensure that any money spent delivers against objectives and against budget, particularly given he and Dominic Cummings are simultaneously hollowing out the civil service before our very eyes (although it’s not unlikely that it will be the civil service’s fault).

Chris Cleaver
Oxford

The PM’s press-ups

You’d have thought that the government’s handling of Covid-19 had caused enough stink without the Mail on Sunday quoting the prime minister as saying he’s “full of beans”.

Roger Hinds
Surrey

Selfish citizens

I’m so sad about people being selfish and ignoring guidelines. I’m in the extremely vulnerable group and have had to isolate alone as my husband died suddenly of a heart attack at 63.

Having had surgery on my ankle in February, I’m also wearing a boot and I’m still waiting for an outpatient appointment at Southmead Hospital, Bristol. I need a CT scan; goodness knows when that will happen. I’m told I have to stay in the below-knee boot until I go back to the hospital, possibly six months or more.

If there is a second spike due to people’s selfishness and this useless government I’ll go crazy!

Sue Pearse
Stroud

The Stones vs Trump

The Rolling Stones are threatening legal action against Donald Trump for using their music at his rallies.

My thought is that as Trump seems to ignore injunctions, the Rolling Stones should fight fire with fire.

A new Rolling Stones song detailing some of Trump’s many failures and confusions would be fitting and probably popular.

“Stop playing ours and we’ll stop playing the new song.”

Tony Wood
Farnborough

The blundering British political class

Patrick Cockburn’s article (“The blundering British political class has shown the same incompetence in both fighting wars and coronavirus“, Voices, 26 June) was absolutely brilliant.

It certainly illustrates how David Cameron’s ill-considered leadership in invading Libya has resulted in terrible human deaths in this country and elsewhere.

Over the years, I have seen very happy-looking press coverage of Cameron in Benghazi and Tripoli. Perhaps it’s time he makes another visit?

Roy Nicholas
Monmouth