"Unremittingly New Labour..."

...says Blair. Oh, jolly good:

However the study, carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found working adults without children had been left behind by Gordon Brown's tax and benefit reforms.

Although many people have gained from rising living standards and falling unemployment, large numbers depend on benefits whose value has been frozen.

The proportion of households below three-fifths of national average earnings - the official poverty line - rose from 12 per cent to 13 per cent from 1997 to 2003.