Author Archives: Martin Narey

Opinion: Social mobility – we can make a difference

By Martin Narey | Mon 30th June 2008 - 5:40 pm

Last week’s Liberal Democrat News carried the following article from Martin Narey:

The UK is the fifth richest nation on Earth, yet it has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the industrialised world. Labour has made some commendable progress in reducing the truly shocking level of child poverty they inherited in 1997.

But even after allowing for the implementation of Budget measures for which investment has been found, they find themselves a million adrift from their ambition to halve child poverty by 2010.

Poverty can have a profound impact on a child, on his or her family, and the rest of society. It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion, contributing to problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction. But what should really make child poverty alarm us all is the disturbing fact that a child born into deprivation seems now more likely to inherit his or her parents’ disadvantage than at any time in our recent past.