Earlier this week Iain Duncan Smith delivered the first annual CSJ Founder’s Lecture at Bloomberg’s London HQ.
In a wide ranging speech on social justice Iain Duncan Smith talked passionately about the importance of work as a route out of poverty and the need for a more “human” welfare system. Reflecting on his time in office, Iain Duncan Smith said the introduction of the Government’s ‘life chances agenda’ had changed the narrative on poverty.
On the day the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill reached its final stages in the House of Commons, Iain Duncan Smith used his platform to argue for a “truly compassionate approach” to fighting poverty contrasting this with the “failed social experiment” which saw almost one and half million people spend “9 of the last 10 years on benefits”.
Iain Duncan Smith condemned the old measure of child poverty which is now being swept away by Government welfare reforms. These reforms, bedded in historic CSJ thinking, will now redirect Government poverty measures away from an approach narrowly focused on income to one that concentrates on the root causes of poverty.
Turning the spotlight to his own Party, Iain Duncan Smith praised the Prime Minister for delivering the “most pro social justice speech of any Prime Minister in living memory” and ensuring every Minister was committed to the Government’s poverty fighting agenda.
Outlining the next chapter in Government welfare reforms, Iain Duncan Smith identified the need for a “rigorous and thorough framework for measuring the extent of Britain’s social problems”. In a week dominated by Europe, this was a reminder that social justice remains at the heart of the Government’s agenda.
To watch the speech click here
To view a selection of photos from the event click here
To read our recent report on Improving Life Chances click here and our 2015 report on Reforming the Child Poverty Act click here
Iain Duncan Smith's speech was covered in The Independent here and in The Huffington Post here