Clause 14
Child Poverty Bill
3:00 pm
Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness, Conservative)
I am struck by the hon. Gentleman’s naivety. Does he really believe that, under the Bill, a court would enforce such targets, that it would intervene and imprison the Secretary of State for successive failures? The only thing that has ever happened when a statutory target has been missed is that the court makes a declaration. There has been no suggestion by anyone involved in the law that there could be another response unless we brought in specific provision to allow a court to intervene and overrule the democratically elected Government.