Labour launches child poverty strategy but hints costly welfare system has to change
The UK welfare system is not helping enough people into work and has significantly rising costs, and no one should think the government is backing away from reforming it, the work and pensions secretary has said.Pat McFadden made the comments as the government published its new child poverty strategy on Friday.He said the aim of the strategy was to improve young lives for the long term and that those lifted out of hardship are likely to have improved prospects for employment in the future.“This is about more than the distribution of money.It’s an investment in the future of the children who are affected by poverty,” he said.
McFadden added that further changes to the welfare system to encourage work were important for improving children’s lives, arguing that getting people into jobs will make families better off and save money on the benefits bill.The flagship policy in the strategy is the government’s pledge to end the two-child limit on universal credit, at a cost of £3bn to the Treasury.The move is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty by 2031.Other measures in the package include helping parents choose cheaper baby formula, getting families out of temporary accommodation faster, establishing breakfast clubs and extending free school lunches.Labour MPs are delighted with the move to scrap the two-child limit, and won a victory in July when they forced ministers to abandon plans to cut disability benefits.
However, McFadden said it would be a “mistake” for anyone to think the government was not aiming for further changes to the welfare system.“I think because of what happened in July, there’s been a conclusion that no reform is happening.That’s a mistake.Reform is happening.But I think we will need more in the future, too,” he told the Guardian as he toured a Little Village baby bank in north London that has supported more than 11,000 families with the cost of living.
In a sign he will pursue further significant changes, McFadden said: “I don’t think the right thing to do with the welfare system is just to circle the wagons around a system that is not delivering as well as it should and has such significantly rising costs,“We should see this system as not just about the distribution of benefits but ask ourselves: does it do everything it can to help people into work? I don’t think it does right now, and so there is a case for further reform to the system and there’s also reform happening [now],”Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionThe chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has also said the benefits bill cannot “remain untouched”,Two reviews are under way: the Timms review looking at the disability benefits system, and another headed by Alan Milburn, examining youth inactivity,Asked whether he was planning to cut people’s payments or reduce eligibility for benefits, McFadden said: “I can’t say yet and I don’t want to start ruling things in or ruling things out.
“What it will involve is us asking the question: how do we deal with rising inactivity among the young and what can we offer to enhance people’s opportunity and the chance to get into work right across different government departments?”He said it was wrong to look at taking out costs from the welfare system without considering how changes would help people back into work – improving their finances and prospects as well as generating tax revenue for the Treasury.“If a young person gets on to benefits and stays on them, they will lose out about a million pounds in earnings over the course of their life and it will cost the state about a million pounds too,” he said.“Rather than approaching this the way that it has [been] done in the past, where people say: ‘I’m going to take a figure of X billion, and then retrofit a policy on to that,’ think about that million pounds.“Every person we can get into work and not have them on benefits for years is earning and paying tax.That does save money on the benefits bill and I think that’s a good thing if that’s the way that we save money on the benefits.
”McFadden also firmly rejected the Conservative’s claim that last month’s budget would help those on benefits more than those in work.He said the two-child limit brought in by the Conservative government in 2017 was “never really about saving money on the benefits bill”.“It has always been seen in part as a political dividing line with children used as the weapon of choice,” he added.“I think setting this up as some sort of division between the working and the non-working is just factually wrong.”
Sale blow 14-0 lead and slump to home defeat by Glasgow in Champions Cup opener
Losing is in danger of becoming a habit for Sale after a stellar Glasgow side headed back north with a bonus-point win in this Champions Cup opener.Alex Sanderson’s hosts, beaten here by Exeter a week ago and already off the pace in their Prem campaign, let slip an early 14-0 lead to a Warriors team packed with some of Scotland’s finest talent.Franco Smith’s men, inspired by the captain, Kyle Steyn, and centre pairing Stafford McDowall and Sione Tuipulotu, showed their mettle to beat Sale in this competition for the second season running.Several of Sale’s England internationals – George Ford, Tom Roebuck, Bevan Rodd, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Carpenter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour – were unavailable. But defeats on their home turf on the outskirts of Salford have been a rarity in recent seasons under Sanderson; now they have suffered two inside a week
Norris’ date with F1 destiny arrives as he aims to keep Verstappen and Piastri at bay
He has a 12-point lead before Sunday’s Abu Dhabi GP but the British driver vows to ‘crack on’ if the title goes elsewhereThe atmosphere at a season-deciding finale in the Formula One world championship is like no other. The paddock positively hums with a febrile, pulsing excitement and sense of expectation that is impossible to ignore. Amid all of which the title favourite, Lando Norris, finds himself at the moment he has dedicated his life toward, destiny lying in his own hands.After a gruelling 23-race trek around the world, the conclusion of all the work, sacrifice and effort will be decided in just an hour and a half on Sunday afternoon in Abu Dhabi.Norris has been fascinating to observe across a season during which he opened on top, was then eclipsed by his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri before mounting a comeback in the final third to retake the lead
Your Guardian sport weekend: F1 finale, the Ashes and Premier League
James Wallace and Rob Smyth will cover all the day-three action, over by over. The day-nighter at the Gabba has already thrown up more storylines than an entire season of Neighbours, and our team of writers – Ali Martin, Geoff Lemon and Simon Burnton – are in Brisbane for reports, news and analysis. Australian supporters are welcome to join the conversation, too.Emillia Hawkins and John Brewin take the controls for our essential weekly gateway to the day’s football action. There’ll be plenty of washup from Friday’s World Cup draw in Washington DC as well as team news, breaking stories and snippets from our reporters around the grounds
L’Eau Du Sud bids to create history in Tingle Creek for title leader Skelton
After his Crisp-like capitulation around the Elbow in the last two National Hunt trainers’ championships, Dan Skelton has set off at an even faster pace in this season’s title race and has already amassed more than £1.7m in prize money, nearly £1m ahead of second-placed Olly Murphy.The tally that is likely to matter most in April 2026, of course, will belong to Willie Mullins, who has shown that quality matters more than quantity by winning the last two titles with big hauls at the spring festivals, despite an overall aggregate winner-count of 300-66 in Skelton’s favour.But in that respect too there is encouragement for Skelton, who saddled 20 fewer winners in from May to the end of November than in the 2024-25 campaign, but upped his prize money total by nearly £450,000 year-on-year.It is a step up in terms of quality that may be further underscored at Sandown on Saturday when Skelton’s L’Eau Du Sud lines up for the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase against two top-class rivals in Mullins’s Il Etait Temps and Nicky Henderson’s popular and consistent Jonbon, the winner for the past two seasons
Saracens hatch plan to put dent in French dominance against Clermont
Judging by the Saracens side starting their Champions Cup campaign against Clermont Auvergne on Saturday, a show of strength is the aim. Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, Tom Willis and Nick Isiekwe are some of the distinguished names who will line up in north London aiming to put a small, symbolic dent in the notion that French clubs are poised to dominate the competition again.Even without the rested England captain, Maro Itoje, and back-row Ben Earl – both recently returned from a successful autumn campaign – the quality of the lineup indicates the depth required for a deep tournament run.Noah Caluori, the 19-year-old who shot to prominence in October and was rewarded with an England call-up, makes his European debut: the presence of the 6ft 4in wing, allied to Farrell’s kicking prowess, will be causing some stress among Clermont’s coaching team.Saracens last lifted the trophy in 2019, when they beat Leinster in the final, and Caluori had yet to enter his teens
McLaren will use team orders in quest for F1 world drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi
Zak Brown has said McLaren will use team orders for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri if required to ensure the team secure the Formula One drivers’ championship in the season finale at Abu Dhabi on Sunday.With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen trailing Norris by 12 points, the Dutchman still has a shot at taking the title from McLaren’s grasp. Piastri is a further four points back. Having spent all season allowing their drivers to race and attempting to be scrupulously fair to both, Brown announced at the Yas Marina circuit that if circumstances rendered it necessary, they would use orders.“Yes, of course
Elon Musk’s X fined €120m by EU in first clash under new digital laws
Home Office admits facial recognition tech issue with black and Asian subjects
Tesla launches cheaper version of Model 3 in Europe amid Musk sales backlash
Russia blocks Snapchat and restricts Apple’s FaceTime, state officials say
Google’s AI Nano Banana Pro accused of generating racialised ‘white saviour’ visuals
Chatbots can sway political opinions but are ‘substantially’ inaccurate, study finds