Labour MP Dr Karl Chircop said government policies had led to one out of every five children having to live in poverty.

Urging a change in the children’s allowances policy, he said that over a period of 10 years, the government had reduced its expenditure on these allowances by 33 per cent – from Lm21 million to Lm14.

The pretext was that the government wanted to cut down on abuses and that the birth rate had declined.

Dr Chircop, the party’s spokesman on social protection, said this and other measures had led to poverty for one out of every five children, as reported by the National Statistics Office.

It was also reported elsewhere that a single person could cope on the minimum wage but a family with children earning only the minimum wage and social benefits lived in poverty.

This poverty did not allow children to participate in tours organised by the school, and their families could not afford to buy pencils, books or a computer.

Dr Chircop asked how a father earning Lm57 a week, and not qualifying for the pink card entitling him to benefits could spend Lm20 on medicines.