Cable, who is also the party's deputy leader, said having a councillor responsible for tackling poverty in every authority would help ensure action is taken at a local level to end child poverty.
"One of the first things local government can do to reduce poverty is to make it an objective for local government," Cable told an Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors' event at the party's annual conference in Brighton. "A way to make it an objective is to have a cabinet member who has responsibility for reducing poverty."
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, backed Cable's proposal. "It's a really imaginative and good idea that will give a higher political profile to the need to reduce child poverty," she said. Lib Dem councillor Nick Cott, the lead member for children and young people in Newcastle, said he would look at implementing the proposal in Newcastle.
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