Blunkett to speak at make UK poverty history conference

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Blunkett MP will speak at an historic conference on 17 October marking a new drive to eliminate poverty in Britain.

Building on the overwhelming support for Make Poverty History, global and UK poverty experts and campaigners will call on the government to tackle the scourge of poverty at home. The conference, íPoor Relations: Making UK Poverty Historyí, will take place on the UNís International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Leading representatives of the TUC, End Child Poverty, Oxfam, the Unemployed Workersí Centres and BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development) will call on government to take action now.

Other speakers confirmed for the day include Ed Balls MP, Professor Ruth Lister, Nick Pearce (IPPR), and TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances OíGrady. There will also be contributions from Liberty, Turning Point, the Stop Aids Coalition, London Citizens and ATD Fourth World. The full programme will be published shortly.

Frances OíGrady, TUC Deputy General Secretary, said:

Poverty must be made history at home as well as abroad. The TUC is a key part of End Child Poverty and the Make Poverty History campaign, an historical coordinated effort of NGOs, faith groups, grassroots campaigners and politicians to put the severe poverty in Africa and other parts of the world at the top of the global political agenda.

There are vital lessons that politicians and campaigners to learn about ending poverty in the UK from the ongoing global campaign.

Richard Bennett, General Secretary, BOND, said:

As the UKís broadest network of voluntary organisations working in international development, the scourge of global poverty is BONDís central concern. We recognise that we have much to learn by working with our counterparts domestically, and that by being part of a broader alliance we can help the UK public to think about poverty - wherever it raises its head - in terms of rights and justice, rather than pity and charity.

Jonathan Stearn, Director of the End Child Poverty Coalition, said:

The government should take courage from the massive support the British people gave to Make Poverty History. They found appalling poverty intolerable in a world of plenty and they wanted it to end. Poverty is also abhorrent in a rich country like ours, which is why we must keep the government to their pledge to end child poverty in Britain within a generation.

A joint pamphlet íMaking UK Poverty Historyí will be published at the conference - which takes place at TUC Congress House, 10.30am - 4:30pm, Monday 17 October - embargoed copies will be available to media.

To apply for media credentials please contact Emma Richards, email: erichards@tuc.org.uk Tel: 020 7467 1258.