Launching the latest report of the Economic Failure and Welfare Dependency Breakdown Sub-Group of the Social Policy Justice Group, MP Greg Clark said the way the Tories thought about poverty and exclusion needed to change.

“Poverty should be defined by what is normal in a particular society and of course the definition of normality changes over time,” Clark said. “Social exclusion is a term that has been associated with the Labour Party, but we think it is very much at the heart of a Conservative approach to social justice.”

Clark said Labour had taken a “narrow financial approach” to poverty, and that it believed the way to tackle poverty was to pour more money into social security benefits without addressing root causes.

“Social exclusion – and hence poverty – is much worse for people who rely on benefits than for those who have the dignity and the social involvement of holding down a job,” he said. “It is through work that people gain self respect and the confidence to make something of their lives.”