Labour's goal of ending child poverty, emblem of the brave new world a new government intended to build in Britain, is less vision than nightmare these days. Always ambitious, the target now looks unattainable. The government's annual poverty figures, published on June 10th, showed a rise in 2006-07 of 100,000 in the number of children living in poverty, to 2.9m. If the task of halving child poverty by 2010 en route to ending it by 2020 is to be achieved, 300,000 children must be moved out of poverty in each of the four years to 2010-11, a near-impossible task.rnMinisters tried to change the subject to their longer-term record. If the government had merely increased tax allowances and benefits in line with inflation since 1997, said the work and pensions secretary, James Purnell, there would be 1.7m more poor children in Britain today. Others pointed to problems of definition. Things have improved in absolute terms, said Stephen Timms, the welfare-reform minister.
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