Charities and stars call on UK government to set child poverty reduction targets
Celebrities, MPs and children’s charities are among dozens of signatories to an open letter ramping up pressure on the government to set targets for reducing child poverty in the UK.The actor Emilia Clarke, the broadcaster Chris Packham and the presenter George Clarke have put their names to the letter, coordinated by the Big Issue founder John Bird, stating that the government’s reluctance to set binding child poverty reduction targets has “rung alarm bells”.Leading anti-poverty and children’s charities including the National Children’s Bureau, Child Poverty Action Group, Amnesty UK, Barnardo’s and the food bank charity Trussell have all backed the call, as well as MPs and peers representing Labour, Greens and the SNP.“Quite simply, we’re worried that the government does not want its homework marked when it comes to child poverty,” the letter reads.“It’s crucial the government gets the child poverty strategy right.
This is a landmark opportunity to set a truly transformative agenda for long-term change, but in an increasingly challenging economic climate there is every reason to worry warm words will not translate into tangible progress.“Targets will provide much-needed benchmarks to track progress and keep driving action forward.The government’s reticence so far has left us worried they’re looking to dodge this vital layer of scrutiny.”The letter is a result of mounting concern in the charity sector that the child poverty strategy will not include targets for the number of children Labour wishes to pull out of poverty during the parliament.Earlier this year Lord Bird, a crossbench peer, proposed an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that would place a duty on the government to set legally binding child poverty targets.
The government rejected it at committee stage in June, with the education minister Jacqui Smith arguing that targets would “risk adversely narrowing the focus of effort to moving the children closest to the poverty line over it”.Bird will reintroduce the amendment when the bill returns for its report stage in the House of Lords later in the year.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 promotionHe said: “We cannot accept rhetoric in place of real change – we must demand sustained, legislative action.Poverty reduction targets will hold Westminster’s feet to the fire and stop delays like we’ve seen with the long-promised child poverty strategy, which we continue to wait for nearly 16 months into Labour’s time in government.”The child poverty strategy was previously delayed from spring to autumn 2025 and is now expected to be published around the time of the November budget, which the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has signalled will include an overhaul of the two-child benefit limit.
Charities have raised concern over suggestions the policy could be replaced with a new tapered system, and on Thursday the Resolution Foundation said half-measures would have little or no meaningful effect on overall child poverty rates.According to the Child Poverty Action Group, on the current trajectory a further 100,000 children a year are set to fall into poverty, with nearly 5 million expected to live in poverty by 2029.Child poverty reduction targets were introduced in Scotland under its 2017 Child Poverty Act with the aim of ensuring that less than 10% of children are in relative poverty by 2030.However, its interim targets for 2023-24 were not met and there was no enforcement mechanism if the targets were missed.A government spokesperson said: “Every child, no matter their background, deserves the best start in life.
That’s why our child poverty taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.“We are investing £500m in children’s development through the rollout of Best Start family hubs, extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest don’t go hungry in the holidays through a new £1bn crisis support package.”
Womad festival returns and moves to new Wiltshire site
Womad festival, the global music festival co-founded by Peter Gabriel, is to return in 2026 at a new venue.The festival took a year off in 2025 in order to “return fully charged”, and left its home of Charlton Park, Wiltshire, where it had been held since 2007. Its new venue remains in Wiltshire, at nearby Neston Park in Corsham.“It immediately felt to us like a warm and welcoming home into which we could sink our roots,” Gabriel said.“In a world in which many bad actors seem to be achieving power by fanning the flames of hatred, racism and division, a meeting place for all the world’s cultures and dreams, built on mutual respect, seems all the more precious,” he added
Seth Meyers on Trump’s South Korea visit: ‘Getting the royal treatment he so desperately craves’
Late-night hosts recapped Donald Trump’s lavish visit to South Korea, where he received a ceremonial golden crown.Trump continued his tour of Asia on Wednesday, where he’s been “getting the royal treatment he so desperately craves”, according to Seth Meyers. “He wishes he could get the same treatment back here at home. He made it clear, for example, that he’s super-jealous of China’s authoritarian government.”Speaking to South Korean leaders, Trump assured them that the country’s partnership with the US guaranteed that “you’ll have everything done very, very quickly … as fast as any other country, other than China”, because China “has a good system” where Xi Jinping can “approve things immediately” whereas he had to “wait two weeks”
A third of people in England believe in ghosts, survey finds
It is the time of the year when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and spirits walk the Earth once more.But it appears you are more likely to be visited by a ghost if you are under 35 years old, while spiritual creatures tend to avoid those who live in the East Midlands.New research from the National Folklore Survey has found that, across England, more than a third of people believe in ghosts and supernatural beings, but belief in the paranormal varies according to age and geography.Led by academics from Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Hertfordshire, and Chapman University in the US, the survey is the first of its kind since the last Survey of English Language and Folklore more than 60 years ago.Just over one in three people in England said they believed in ghosts or the spirits of the deceased, with younger people (aged 25-34) most likely to believe in the paranormal, which also includes magical beings, possession, spells, psychics, angels and demons
Arts organisations still in ‘funding limbo’ after crash of Arts Council England online portal
Arts organisations and artists have said they are still in “funding limbo” with mounting bills and uncertain futures after this summer’s crash of Arts Council England’s grant processing platform.ACE’s online portal, Grantium, was used by artists to submit and manage funding applications. But when it crashed in July, it left thousands of applications for vital funding in doubt – a situation that persisted for several months until applications reopened in late September.Individual artists and leaders of arts institutions have said that, after the crash, they received less money than initially offered by ACE, which is also accused of revoking funding application extensions for organisations affected by the collapse of the portal.ACE claimed the outage was caused by the inability of Grantium to operate with high traffic at a time when the system was being updated
Jimmy Kimmel on government shutdown: ‘There is no Republican plan for healthcare’
Late-night hosts recapped Donald Trump’s state visit to Japan as the government shutdown continued into its fourth week.On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the comedian checked in on Trump’s visit to Japan this week. “You know, when Trump visits, you have to find something to do with him,” he said. “You can’t just take him for a stroll around town.“So instead, you take him for a stroll inside a palace, where he gets uncomfortably close to the band,” he said over footage of Trump wandering aimlessly through a ballroom with the Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi
Man who won damages over Richard III film calls for more regulation of fact-based drama
A university executive who won damages over his portrayal in Steve Coogan’s film The Lost King has urged Ofcom to strengthen regulation of fact-based drama, after what he described as a three-year “anxious, stressful and hurtful” ordeal.Richard Taylor, formerly deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, sued Coogan as well as the film’s production company, Baby Cow, and the distributor Pathé over his portrayal in the 2022 film about the discovery of Richard III’s remains in a Leicester car park.The parties reached a settlement requiring damages, a clarification to appear on the film, and an undertaking not to repeat the defamatory claims. A judge had found Taylor was shown in an “unrelentingly negative and defamatory” light.Taylor said Ofcom needed “clearer guidance” to stop similar misrepresentations happening in future
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