In 2010, a political consensus seemed to have emerged – that poverty was relative, too high, and needed to be tackled with preventative measures as well as by raising people’s incomes. All three of the main political parties had now backed the pledge made by Tony Blair in 1999 to eradicate child poverty within 20 years and the Child Poverty Act was passed with all-party support. Three years on, and this consensus has unravelled. Stewart Lansley looks at what happened.