One important fact was missing from your otherwise excellent editorial (20 January) on social security cuts: the £50bn a year, which, according to the Child Poverty Action Group, has been cut from the social security budget as a result of the series of cuts and restrictions made under the Tories over the past decade or so. This fact, too, is largely missing from the current political debate about possible further cuts. Yet charity after charity argues strongly that more, not less, investment is needed in the social security system if deepening poverty (including child poverty) and mass reliance on food banks are to be tackled effectively.
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
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