Better times

Alistair Darling did not offer blood, sweat and tears in his budget, but as the pundits trawled through the small print yesterday they concluded that it would not be long before Britain would be making some serious sacrifices thanks to a slowing economy. A sustained spending squeeze was pencilled in by the chancellor, and balancing the books may soon require tax rises too. The big question is how the pain will be shared. To its credit, the government has made a big effort to ensure that it does not end up being felt by the vulnerable.

In an eye-wateringly tight budget, the chancellor found room to help pensioners with their fuel bills, and - more importantly still - redoubled the efforts to support poor children. The research shows that youngsters growing up poor have their chances blighted - in terms of health, education and career. Grasping that this makes a mockery of equality of opportunity, Gordon Brown made ending child poverty his defining crusade. Progress, however, has been faltering. His chief weapon was tax credits, which got significant money to needy families, but have also been plagued with high levels of error and fraud. Adding to the difficulties was the fact that the reductions in poverty consistently lagged behind the target to halve the rate by 2010. Things actually went into reverse last year, at which point another government might have been moved to disown the target.

The £1bn poverty package unveiled this week is nothing like enough to get back on track: perhaps three times as much will be needed. But at least it shows ministers have not given up. Particularly welcome is the move to funnel much of the cash through housing benefit instead of tax credits. Mr Darling has decided to allow all working parents to keep their full child benefit, doing away with current rules which can lead to 85% of the cash being swallowed up in reductions to rent and council tax rebates. In high-rent regions dependence on housing benefit sets a nasty unemployment trap, which is one reason why child poverty in London is so stubbornly high. Worth up to £17.50 a week for parents in low-paid jobs, the move should ensure work pays much more often.

This is one of several signs that, even more than before, work is being sold as the route out of poverty. It is certainly the best route, but there are dangers in focusing on it exclusively, particularly when slower growth may soon result in fewer jobs being available. Mr Darling reaffirmed plans to force lone parents of all but the youngest children to seek employment in return for their benefit. Requiring parents to think about what work they might do is reasonable, but childcare is still patchy, so the rules will have to be designed with great care if they are not to penalise those who turn down a job because it does not fit with their family commitments. If that were the result then some poor children would end up being plunged into even deeper poverty.

Wednesday's budget also signalled a ratcheting up of the drive to get disabled people into jobs. Tony Blair decided that new incapacity benefit claimants would be assessed to establish what work they might be able to do, but was always nervous about applying any similar pressure on existing claimants, more than a million of whom have been on it for more than five years. From 2010, however, they too will be dealt with under the new system. Many want to work, and will not mind being encouraged to do so. As with lone parents, however, everything depends on the detail. Unless it is developed with great sensitivity, claimants could be left feeling bullied, aggravating the plight of those with mental health problems in particular.

This week the government has shown that - even in hard times - tackling poverty remains a priority. Labour can take pride in that. It needs to ensure, however, that its stress on the work ethic is not allowed to rise to a pitch where it would start doing more harm than good.