Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Tomlinson Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Dinenage]

I associate myself with the hon. Gentleman’s comments about Mr Deputy Speaker.

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point about fuel poverty. The Government have been doing so much to ensure that people are aware that they can cut down on household energy bills by switching, and we have been making it easier for people to switch. We also know that the Scottish Government have devolved powers to support people more with their benefits, if that is what they decide to do, and they are free to develop their own approaches to addressing poverty.

[Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)]

Is it not time to have a grown-up conversation about the measure of poverty? Under the relative measure, thousands would be lifted out of poverty by a recession, by a significant number of job losses or by a reduction in the median level of household income. Surely that cannot be the best measure and it is right that we look to work as the best route out of poverty.

[Caroline Dinenage]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this matter. If we look at progress since 2010 across all four of the most commonly used measures of poverty—relative, absolute, before housing costs and after housing costs—without cherry-picking any of the statistics, we see that people are no more likely to be in poverty today than they were in 2010. Indeed, on three of the measures the likelihood of being in poverty has reduced, and the incomes of the poorest 20% have increased in real terms by more than £300.