Children’s Rights

Lord Watson of Invergowrie Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, I will have to seek advice from the Home Office and write to the noble Lord on that.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, the 2017 Conservative manifesto said:

“Britain should be the best country in the world for children”.


Yet, as other noble Lords have said, today the UNHRC’s recommendation on the child’s rights action group or strategy still remains unfulfilled. The same manifesto also said that child poverty would be reduced but, despite what the Minister has just said, it is going in the opposite direction. Adding insult to injury, last year the role of Minister for Children and Families was diminished from Minister of State to Parliamentary Under-Secretary. In the circumstances, how can the Minister come to this House and tell us that the Government are committed to the interests of children?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, I respectfully disagree with the noble Lord about child poverty. A child growing up in a home where all the adults are working is five times less likely to be in poverty than a child in a household where nobody works. In 2010, under the old Labour national minimum wage a person would have taken home £9,200 after tax and national insurance. Today, under the national living wage that person would take home £13,700. That is a dramatic increase for that family.