Labour ‘must spend billions on welfare or poverty will soar’

Britain's benefits system needs urgent reform, at a cost of 12bn, charities and experts warn

Labour is being warned by a powerful alliance of thinktanks and charities that poverty will soar if it comes to power and then fails to spend many billions of pounds on welfare reform to help those struggling most with the cost of living.

The Observer understands that shadow work and benefits secretary Liz Kendall met representatives of several organisations, including the centre-left IPPR thinktank which is influential in Labour's policy debate, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the independent Resolution Foundation, whose president is former Tory minister David Willetts, and Save the Children at a round table last week at which serious concerns were raised.