Britain's child poverty plans are "doomed" to fail as 3.5 million children will be in poverty by 2020, says a watchdog chaired by former health secretary Alan Milburn.
The government's draft strategy for the next three years is a "missed opportunity" and falls far short of what is needed, said the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
It urged politicians to work together.
Ministers said they remained committed to ending child poverty by 2020.
The child poverty promise - which includes a pledge to cut the number of children in relative poverty to 10% by 2020 - was enshrined in law in 2010.
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Across the political spectrum, party leaders now need to come clean about what they plan to do”
Alan Milburn Chairman, Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
'Farce'
Mr Milburn said the draft child poverty strategy was a "missed opportunity" and fell "far short" of what was needed to reduce, or end child poverty in Britain.
He said it was a "farce" and "particularly lamentable" that ministers had been unable to agree on how to measure poverty after rubbishing existing measures.
"The government's approach falls far short of what is needed to reduce, yet alone end child poverty in our country," added the former Labour MP.
"Our new research shows that the gap between the objective of making child poverty history and the reality is becoming ever wider."
But, he said, child poverty was "not just an issue" for the current government.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27734513
Hey - I live here. The only child poverty I seen, as a resident and a former teacher, are the kids of the scumbags who blow their social getting hammered down the pub every week.
