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A Labour MP has called on the chancellor to take "further steps" in the 2009 Budget to tackle child poverty.
Karen Buck (Lab, Regent's Park and Kensington North) argued that despite government action on tax credits and the minimum wage, some working parents are still living below the poverty line.
She urged Alistair Darling to tackle child poverty not just because "it is the right thing to do" but also because it will create jobs and boost the economy.
A £3bn investment in tax credits, proposed by the End Child Poverty coalition, is a "wholly sensible way" of saving and creating jobs, she said.
And while the MP recognised that there is "genuine public unease" about spending money in the recession, she argued that people on low incomes will continue to spend on local goods and services.
"They spend because every penny counts on a low income, and it is needed for basics, not luxuries," she stated.
Buck also called on the government to focus on pensioners in the Budget.
She claimed that they had been "hardest hit" by the recession and by the decline in their savings.
And the London MP called for the removal of some "employment traps" that "lurk" within the tax and benefits system.
This would "improve the quality of life for millions and help revive our confidence-dented economy at the same time", Buck said.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd