Social Security

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are dealing with some very serious issues. It is right that we exchange pleasantries and conduct our proceedings with good humour, but some of these issues are of great importance for some very poor people in our society, and we must get them right. That is why it is enormously important that the record shows that we have reduced child poverty by 600,000 since 1998. We should be proud of that. Such achievements have helped millions climb out of poverty, and they serve to contrast vividly with the poverty of thinking on the Opposition Benches—and the creation of millions of unemployed under previous Tory Governments. My commitment today is that we will continue to build on the progress we have made to date, ensuring that we create in this country a welfare state that is rooted in social justice and provides a vital safety net. Those who can work should work, and we must put in place the mechanism to ensure that they do so; but those who genuinely cannot work must be provided with the help and safety net they need.