The End Child Poverty Coalition revealed that an extra 600,000 children were plunged into poverty in a year as ministers got rid of extra support for families on Universal Credit.

In the latest incident of vile and disgraceful remarks made by Tory ministers at the party’s conference, Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson has said that it’s ‘nonsense’ to claim there is poverty.

The MP for Ashfield made the comments while on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Tuesday, where he went on to add that people just needed to “get off their arse”.

“This is still the best country in the world. There are plenty of jobs. People have got money,” he said.

“You know my stance on the food poverty stuff,” he told the audience of party members at the event hosted by ConservativeHome.

“This poverty nonsense. Go in a time machine back to when I was growing up in the 1970s — that was real poverty.”

He went on to add: “If you want something you can get it. You need to get off your arse and go and get it for yourself.”

It’s utterly shameful for Anderson to say that it’s “nonsense” to claim anyone in the UK is living in poverty and all people have to do is stop being lazy. Blaming people for struggling allows Tories to deflect from their policies that have plunged people into poverty. By portraying poverty as a result of bad ‘individual choices’, it allows them to deflect away from policies that have worsened inequality.

The End Child Poverty Coalition for example revealed that an extra 600,000 children were plunged into poverty in a year as ministers got rid of extra support for families on Universal Credit.

It’s also worth pointing out that around two-thirds (68%) of working-age adults in poverty live in a household where at least one adult is in work.

Of course, Tories like Anderson choose to ignore such facts.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

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