Labour Conference: Tory family policy "unchanged and unfair"

In a briefing released at Labour’s conference in Manchester, entitled Under Scrutiny Conservative Family Policy, the party said the Tories had refused to make a real pledge to cut child poverty, preferring to redefine it rather than tackle it.

It said the Tory Party was calling for a halt to increases in tax credits while prioritising policies that are unfair, including a promise to cut inheritance tax and divert £1 billion to the richest 3000 estates in the country.

Labour said Tory leader David Cameron’s definition of poverty as people with less than 40 per cent of average household income excludes 2.5 million children from targets on child poverty. It said the Tory definition had been criticised by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, who said it was not a viable measure, and the Child Poverty Action group.