Budget 2010 – a missed opportunity

This was a last chance budget to keep the promise to halve child poverty by 2010 – and Darling failed to deliver. The £4 increase in child tax credits for 1-2 year olds and the increased access to bank accounts for the poorest are real steps forward but he could have done so much more.

Darling had £11bn more than he thought and for less than half of that he could have met the Government’s own promise to halve child poverty by the end of 2010. But, disappointingly, the opportunity to use that money and make a significant investment in child poverty was missed.

If you met Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Nick Clegg what would you do?