In an election marked frequently by a refusal by any politician to commit to anything, a strange thing has happened. We have agreement.
In The Big Issue this week you can read Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Tim Farron, Leanne Wood and Caroline Lucas all agree to back The Big Issue’s call for prevention to be at the heart of policy.
While polls shift as quickly as manifesto U-turns, throughout the campaign The Big Issue has been clear. There must be a focus on ending poverty in Britain. And the only REAL way to break the poverty cycle is to work to prevent it taking hold.
There is only one way we are ever going to address social divisions – by putting prevention at the heart of our approach
Led by Big Issue founder John Bird, we’re pushing for a Poverty Prevention Unit. After decades of failed ministerial attempts to address poverty, we need a Prevention Unit to keep the spotlight on poverty. The £78bn-plus that governments spend every year on the rat’s nest of consequences of poverty – in educational underachievement, bad health, poor employment, drink and drug abuse and the criminal justice system – would be much better targeted by prevention.
We’ve challenged every major party leader in Britain to back our call for a non-partisan unit and this week each have written in The Big Issue about their commitment to the cause.
- Jeremy Corbyn: “Poverty is not inevitable. We can prevent it”
- Theresa May: “We can only address social divisions by putting prevention at the heart of our approach”
- Nicola Sturgeon: “With poverty, prevention is better than cure”
Prime Minister Theresa May said: “There is only one way that we are ever going to address these enduring social divisions in the long term – by putting prevention at the heart of our approach.