Debbie Abrahams MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, responding to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Monitoring of Poverty and Social Exclusion 2016 report said:

“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown the true impact of six wasted years of Tory austerity, with 7.4 million people in poverty in working households. 

“This Government has no plan to tackle stagnant wages and rising insecurity, choosing instead to make the poorest pay for their economic mismanagement.

“Only a Labour government will introduce a real Living Wage based on what people need. We will also ensure that work will always pay under Universal Credit, to put an end to in-work poverty.”