LABOUR would end the “modern-day scourge” of in-work poverty during its first five-year term in office, John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, will say today.
Speaking at the launch of the Resolution Foundation’s Living Standards Audit, the London MP will say Labour’s approach to ending, what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation referred to as “the problem of our times,” will be threefold:
*structural changes to the economy, including an industrial strategy, a network of regional public banks, expanded trade union rights, a £10 per hour Real Living Wage, workers on boards and public investment across the country;
*public services free at the point of use paid for through taxation, ending austerity in existing public services, free school meals, free buses for young people, free childcare, restoring funding for public libraries, leisure centres and parks and
*creating a strong social safety net by stopping the Universal Credit roll-out and having a fundamental review of the social security system, including an end to sanctions, establishing the principle of universalism and looking after each other in times of need.
“Behind the concept of social mobility is the belief that poverty is OK as long as some people are given the opportunity to climb out of it, leaving the others behind.
“I reject that completely and want to see a society with higher living standards for everyone as well as one in which nobody lacks the means to survive or has to choose between life’s essentials,” he will say.
Mr McDonnell will also insist that Labour rejects the belief that “it’s OK if your local factory closes as long as you have cash transfers from the finance sector in the south east or a new warehouse opening on the edge of town paying minimum wage on its zero hour contracts”.
He will stress: “Ending poverty won’t just be done in the workplace; we need to make sure the essentials of life are never denied to people because of their circumstances.
“So, parents aren’t forced to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their children or the unemployed teenager doesn’t give up on job interviews because they cost £5 in bus fares each time.
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“Labour has already committed ourselves to ending sanctions and bringing Work Capability Assessments in-house by medical professionals. But we also are asking ourselves more fundamental questions.
“We need a structurally different economy, a social safety net of shared public service provision, and of course a financial safety net as well.
“Without any one of these three elements, we will not be able to achieve the sustained eradication of poverty, the dramatic narrowing of inequality, and the transformation of people’s lives that will be the central purpose of the next Labour Government.”
On in-work poverty, the Shadow Chancellor will say: “I am committing today to ending this modern-day scourge to eliminating in-work poverty by the end of Labour’s first full parliamentary term.
“We’ll need all three of the policy approaches I’ve outlined to make that happen. As Chancellor in the next Labour Government, I want you to judge me by how much we reduce poverty and how much we create a more equal society. By how much people’s lives change for the better.
“Because that is our number one goal.”
Meanwhile, Labour's governing body has been urged to support a motion which would auto-exclude members where there is "irrefutable evidence" accusing them of racism and other forms of discrimination.
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Tom Watson, the party's deputy leader, was among five members of the National Executive Committee who submitted the motion to its chair.
The proposed change, which will be debated at a meeting next Tuesday, calls on the NEC to bring forward rule changes to the annual conference.
This week, Labour has been rocked by a Panorama programme, which claimed senior party figures, had interfered in anti-Semitism investigations.
The party has denied the claims and written a complaint to the BBC.
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