There is often value in inverting an argument to see what falls out of the pockets. As with this:

The number of children living in temporary accommodation has risen by more than 75% since the Tories came to power in 2010, despite the government’s repeated claims to be tackling homelessness and child poverty.

We’d insist upon claiming that as a victory.

Figures unearthed by Labour from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show the number of children without a permanent home rose from 72,590 in the second quarter of 2010 to 128,200 in the first quarter of 2020.

Imagine the absence of the Tories’ tackling of homelessness. There would, presumably, be 128,200 children sleeping on the streets. Or, a more limited claim, 40% more than there would have been under previous policies to provide temporary homes. Reading Mayhew or Dickens we get at least the impression that the past was in fact like that in certain times and places.

So, the Tories have saved 130,000, or perhaps 50,000, children from that fate. We do not consider this a failure of policies against homelessness. Nor should anyone else of course.

The larger point here being that the number of people being aided by a welfare state is not evidence of the failure of that welfare state. It’s evidence of the effectiveness of course. We do not say that the NHS is failing because it provides more hip replacements. We do not say the education system is a failure because more children are taught to read - although it would be a nice surprise to be told that the NHS was providing more such operations, the schools producing more literates.

A rise in the number of beneficiaries of a welfare system is not evidence of the paucity of that system, it’s evidence of the effectiveness of it - or at least its generosity.