Child Poverty Bill

I thank the noble Baroness, but in this case I am baffled by how she could ever accuse me of saying that there should be no transfer from rich to poor. There are already massive transfers from rich to poor, and you could argue for more. The fascinating book The Spirit Level, which I am sure the noble Baroness has studied from cover to cover, as have I, makes the argument that it does not matter how you balance incomes in the economy, whether through redistribution or through natural means. There are a lot of different approaches here but we have never said that there should be no redistribution, and it is inappropriate of the noble Baroness to suggest it.