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Ming Campbell slams inequality in Hackney
2007-09-24 20:41:35 
Lib Dem Leader, Sir Ming Campbell, chose Hackney's plight to demonstrate the growing gap between rich and poor in Britain. In his major speech to the party's annual conference in Brighton on Thursday, he accused the Government of failing to deliver on equal opportunities.
"Some people have the good fortune to be born into opportunity," he told the conference, "but for millions of others life is a great deal tougher. In London - the capital of one of the richest nations in the world - just six miles separate Hampstead from Hackney. But they might as well be in different countries.
"If you live in Hackney you are four times as likely to suffer from long-term unemployment as your neighbour in Hampstead. If you live in Hackney you are twice as likely to be permanently sick or disabled. And if you live in Hackney you are four times as likely to have no qualifications at all," he said.
"Who’d have thought it, that after a decade of Labour government, the gap between rich and poor in this country would be wider than it was when Labour came to office? Who’d have thought that after a decade of Labour government social mobility would be in decline?
"And who’d have thought that our country would languish - shamefully - at the bottom of the UNICEF league table for the well-being of children? That’s the record of Gordon Brown and the Labour government."
And he warned: "The people out there know it. The one and half million families across this country who are waiting for social housing: they know it.
"The millions of older people who struggle to get by on inadequate pensions: they know it. The parents who worry that their background determines the quality of their childrens’ education and their future prospects: they know it too."
He told delegates that freedom was a practical priority for people. "The freedom we get from good health, decent education and a clean environment," he said.
Tags:
ming campbell, social justice, inequality, economy
