“A hereditary peer who voted in favour of the Government’s attempts to redefine the way child poverty is measured has said some families “ought” to do try harder to earn money.
Speaking during the debate in the House of Lords – in which peers eventually voted 290 to 192 in favour of an amendment to that will force the Government to publish annual figures on income-related child poverty – Lord Northbourne said some families preferred a lifestyle dependent on state support.
It was quickly pointed out to him, by the Earl of Listowel, that two-thirds of children in poverty have at least one parent in work.
The 89-year-old peer and Kent landowner is the fifth Baron of Northbourne and his son, Sebastian James, featured in the Bullingdon Club society’s 1987 photo, alongside David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
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