Edinburgh North & Leith Liberal Democrats make tackling poverty a key campaign issue in 2008

9.17.00am GMT Fri 4th Jan 2008

Kevin Lang, Cllr Elaine Morris and other Liberal Democrats in Edinburgh North & Leith plan to make tackling poverty a key campaign issue throughout 2008.

Liberal Democrats in the crucial marginal seat of Edinburgh North & Leith today promised to make the fight against poverty one of their key campaigning issues in 2008.

Two recent independent reports have found the UK Government to be failing to effectively tackle poverty. This week, the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) criticised the Government for the 'forgotten million' children who are still in poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation also produced a report last month, which found the Government would fall massively short of its target to halve child poverty by 2009.

Figures just released by the Government have also shown that 100,000 fewer families received Child Tax Credit in 2007 than in the previous year.

Liberal Democrats in the target seat of Edinburgh North & Leith have now promised to make the issue of poverty a key part of its campaign throughout the year and would feature the issue in a mailing to over 30,000 households in the constituency over the coming month.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Edinburgh North & Leith, Kevin Lang said,

"Edinburgh North and Leith is a place where the gap between rich and poor is as stark as you will see, where deprived communities sit alongside some of the most affluent parts of Scotland. After 10 years of a Labour Government at Westminster, that gap has got worse, not better, with inequality now greater today than it was under Margaret Thatcher.

"To make matters worse, new figures now show that Government incompetence in overpaying and then clawing back child and other tax credits is now deterring vulnerable families in Edinburgh and across the UK from claiming the money they deserve.

"From the feedback I receive from local people, I know the issues of poverty and of growing inequality are a real concern. That is why the issue of poverty, and the Liberal Democrat plans to reduce the tax burden on those who can least afford to pay, will be some of the key campaigning issues for the Liberal Democrats in this constituency over the coming 12 months."