Anthony Butcher

The Liberal Democrat Autumn conference today backed radical new measures to reduce poverty and tackle inequality in Britain.

The plans aim to reverse Gordon Brown’s dependency culture by giving people educational and employment opportunities, as well as incentives to work and save.
Five million people will be lifted out of relative poverty, with 10 million fewer means-tested benefits in payment, by 2020.

The proposals contained in the policy document Freedom from Poverty, Opportunity for All: Policies for a fairer Britain include:

· Introducing a ‘pupil premium’, with £1.5bn extra targeted at the children with the greatest need
· Reforming Tax Credits by ending the overpayments crisis and taking higher earners out of the system all together
· Increasing Child Benefit by around £5 per family per week, taking 150,000 children out of poverty
· Replacing Job Centre Plus with a new ‘First Steps’ agency to be a single one-stop-shop for all benefit and tax credit claims, while outsourcing properly funded employment support to the private and voluntary sector
· Immediately restoring the earnings link to the basic state pension and in the long run introducing a citizens’ pension
· Establishing an Independent Commission on Public Sector Pensions to ensure that they are fair and affordable – with any savings re-invested in a higher state pension

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander MP said:

“Under Gordon Brown, Britain remains a society of massive inequalities of both income and opportunity.

“Our radical new agenda rejects Gordon Brown’s blueprint for a state of dependency, where the spread of mass means-testing undermines incentives to work, save and even form stable families.

“Our proposals for Tax Credits will give people an assurance that what is given to them will stay with them, and by removing millions from means-testing we will strengthen incentives to progress in work.

“In combination with our tax proposals, we are able to both tackle poverty and ensure the vast majority of families will keep more of their income, as they move on to better paid work.

“Our new employment policies will take the task of finding people work away from failing job centres, and give it to local charities and companies with much better prospects of finding people permanent employment.

“Labour has failed to provide real opportunity for the most disadvantaged. Britain is becoming divided into two nations. With these policies, the Liberal Democrats are declaring war on inequality.”

Commenting further, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws MP said:

“Our pupil premium would help to tackle disadvantage where it matters most - in education from the very first days in school. Our aspiration is that the most deprived pupils have the same financial backing as those privileged enough to go to private school.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The text of the full motion is copied below:

Freedom from Poverty, Opportunity for All (Poverty and Inequality Policy Paper)

Conference believes that:

A. Poverty and lack of opportunity restrict freedom.
B. Creating a fair society, in which everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential, free from the barriers imposed by poverty and inequality, is a core Liberal Democrat principle.
C. The state should encourage opportunity and independence for all.

Conference further believes that our priorities in tackling poverty and inequality should be:
I. Removing up to 5 million people from relative poverty by 2020 – including signing up to the 2020 targets of ending child poverty.
II. Reducing means-testing for over 5 million people by 2020.
III. Supporting 2 million more people into employment by 2020.
IV. Delivering a million more affordable homes by 2020.
V. Targeting resources to improve education for up to 1.5 million disadvantaged children.

Conference therefore endorses Policy Paper 80, Freedom from Poverty, Opportunity for All, as a statement of the Party’s key policies for reducing poverty and inequality, providing equal access to opportunity and improving social mobility. Conference particularly welcomes:

1. Proposals to improve opportunity in education including:

a) Extending access to early years education to children living in workless households.
b) Allocating additional funds to invest in the training of early years teachers and staff.
c) Introducing an extra £1.5 billion for a Pupil Premium to raise significantly funding for pupils from deprived backgrounds.

2. Proposals to provide better access to high-quality housing and end the geographical concentration of deprivation, including:

a) Giving local communities greater freedom and incentives to allow housing development by freeing up the planning system and devolving control to local government.
b) Enabling public authorities to make suitable surplus land available for development for affordable housing.
c) Requiring local authorities to maintain an accessible housing register to improve access to appropriate housing for disabled people.
d) Facilitating the selling off of housing on large estates, with the proceeds being reinvested in new social housing in diversified areas where this has the support of the local council and residents affected.

e) Supporting councils who wish to exercise the fourth option of retaining council ho

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