Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to a report from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, said:

“This powerful report offers a timely warning that the cost of living crisis faced by families today also threatens the promise of a better tomorrow for Britain’s next generation.

“While David Cameron congratulates himself on the long delayed recovery, the reality is that the majority are barely benefiting, with ordinary families’ living standards squeezed and social divisions deepening as a result of this government’s decisions to put a privileged few first. Families are £891 worse off this year because of changes introduced since 2010, while David Cameron’s Government is reversing the last Labour Government’s progress on child poverty - pushing 300,000 more children into absolute poverty in the last year alone.

“As Ed Miliband has said, Britain can and must do better than this. We can’t succeed as a country unless everyone has a chance to play their part and feels they have a stake in our future.”