OneWorld.net (U.S.)

In a keynote speech today (Tuesday) to the Overseas Development Institute, APGOOD and the Fabian Society, Hilary Benn MP, the UK International Development Secretary, said that following the recent UNICEF report and the spate of shootings there is a new public appetite for more action to fight poverty and exclusion in Britain.

Arguing that these problems stem from some young people feeling cut off from society, he said more still needs to be done to reverse the huge rise in inequality in the 1980s that the Tories were responsible for. Britain should learn from what works in the rest of the world. Giving people a direct say in how their taxes are spent in their neighbourhoods and reducing the voting age to 16 would be an important start - and both are having an impact in Brazil.

Hilary Benn MP said:

"I know it can be struggle for parents to get their children through adolescence. But we have to be frank about the inequality that still exists. Although more than 2 million people have been helped out of poverty since 1997 many children still don't fulfil their potential."

"Healing the scars of the Thatcher years will take a generation. After all, children born in 1997 are still only 10 years old today. Communities struggling with joblessness and anti-social behaviour remain far more susceptible to drug related violence and can be cynical about the future. And it is a lack of hope that is at the root of this. "

"People may be surprised to hear that we can learn from poorer countries. Across the world the more we involve people in shaping their future the greater stake they have in it. We need to listen to young people more. We need to respect their experiences. Giving young people the vote at 16 and communities a direct say about how their taxes are spent in their neighbourhoods works in Porto Alegre in Brazil and is being tried now in the UK. We need to extend this approach to all our most deprived communities and start talking more to each other."

ENDS

Notes

* Porto Alegre in Brazil has pioneered the idea of "participatory budgeting".

* This gives local people a direct say in how to allocate part of local government budgets in a series of neighbourhood, regional, and citywide assemblies. In 2004, an estimated 20,000 people attended the first round of meetings, with ten percent of adults in the city having participated at one point.

* It has been implemented in varying forms across cities of all sizes, within Brazil and beyond - in Spain, France, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Canada.

* In Britain, Salford, Bradford, Newcastle and Sunderland are already all experimenting with various forms of neighbourhood-based participatory budgeting.

* The voting age is 16 in Brazil, Cuba, the Isle of Man, and Nicaragua.