Child Poverty: Government must raise young people's ambition

Murphy met the young people at a Department for Work and Pensions event.

He told Young People Now: "I want to hear from young people about the single biggest barrier they face in fulfilling their ambitions, and how we can overcome it."

Jennifer Ginley, 16, from Knowsley Youth Parliament, said: "Ministers should speak to people in deprived areas, not academics or politicians, and do things like raising the tax band." Daniel Thomas, 14, from Swansea Youth Forum, added: "I want the ministers to crack down on child poverty and teach aspirations as part of the curriculum."

Murphy said: "I grew up in poverty in Edinburgh and the main thing that helped me out of poverty was that my parents had aspirations. We need to try to challenge the current culture of low aspiration in schools and parents. We need to spark a new culture of ambition among their kids."