According to a recent report from the National Equalities Council, Britain is more unequal today than it has been at any time since the second world war.

And while the Thatcher years were responsible for the huge initial hike in inequality levels, it's a damning indictment of Labour that the gap between rich and poor is higher today than it was when they came to office 13 years ago.

We live in a country where the richest 10% are 100 times better off than the poorest. And I've read in the Argus today that in East Sussex, almost a fifth of children are living in poverty - a shocking 17.7% of dependent children under 19 live below the poverty line.

What a saddening figure. And this follows a Government target of halving child poverty by 2010 - it doesn't look good for their goal of eradicating it by 2020.

These impoverished children are most likely to be living in lone parent families, or with parents who are unemployed. We need to be doing more to support all families, and to ensure that children are not growing up in poverty.

Greens support investment in jobs and public services, not the cuts that we hear being trumpeted from the rooftops, as well as a more progressive taxation system. This, together with our policy to create a million new jobs paying a living wage, will mean fewer people relying on benefits, and fewer children in poverty.