Britain's child poverty plans are ‘doomed’ to fail as 3.5 million children will be in poverty by 2020, says a watchdog chaired by former health secretary Alan Milburn. The government's draft strategy for the next three years is a ‘missed opportunity’ and falls far short of what is needed, said the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. Mr Milburn said: ‘Our new research shows that the gap between the objective of making child poverty history and the reality is becoming ever wider.’ But, he said, child poverty was ‘not just an issue’ for the current government. ‘Across the political spectrum, party leaders now need to come clean about what they plan to do to hit the targets, or what progress they can deliver if they expect to fall short,’ he said.