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Letter to the editor: Stroud’s new MP disappoints in child poverty vote

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As Stroud’s new MP, Dr Simon Opher, pointed out in Stroud Times 18 months ago: “we still have some 5,000 children living in poverty across the district, and it’s getting worse… pushing people into poverty will not solve this economic crisis, it will make it worse.”

Indeed. 

So this month, the main children’s charities came together to push the new Labour Government to do one simple thing to begin address child poverty straight away – to lift the cruel ‘two-child benefit cap’ and instantly lift 250,000 children out of  poverty. Restoring benefits to third and later children would have huge long-term benefits for our society and our economy, by avoiding the long term damage that poverty in childhood does. 

So hats off to the seven brave Labour MPs who, on July 23rd, voted to scrap the cap (voting alongside the Greens, Scots/Welsh Nationalists, Independents and Lib Dems). 

But I’m sure many in Stroud will share my disappointment that our new MP, Dr Simon Opher, was not one of the rebels, and that he instead voted with the government, and against scrapping the cap. 

There were excuses about priorities, and about funding.

But as Opher’s earlier comments indicate, consigning children to poverty is not only cruel, it’s a false economy, storing up social and health problems for the future. 

So what more important priority than child poverty, could there be for an incoming government?

As Nye Bevan, Labour health minister and founder of the NHS, said: “The language of priorities is the religion of socialism.”

But sadly, it seems there’s not much place for socialism in Starmer’s Labour Party, in Stroud or anywhere else.

Caroline Molloy

Stroud

Dr Simon Opher replied: “After 30 years serving as a GP I’m fully aware of the effect of poverty on health and wellbeing. But make no mistake, the cause of poverty is 14 years of Tory austerity and total fiscal mismanagement, topped off by the Truss/Kwarteng mini-budget.

“The Government has already set up a new Child Poverty Unit bringing together experts from across government and outside to create an ambitious strategy to address the underlying causes of child poverty for good.

“Like most of us, I would like to abolish the child benefit cap. The Government has made it clear that it intends to do this as soon as possible. But repairing the economy and getting the country back onto a strong financial footing has to be the top priority. Without that, we can’t do any of the things we want to do to move the country forward – the comprehensive programme of legislation laid out in the King’s speech.”

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