There’s a long way to go to eradicate child poverty

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the East Kilbride News.

Ending the scourge of child poverty has been a goal for politicians and their political parties for decades.

But promising words are very different from delivering meaningful action and governments of all persuasions have found that progress in solving this problem has been at a glacial pace.

On pages 4 and 5 of today’s paper, we assess figures produced by the End Child Poverty Coalition who state that more than 3000 kids in East Kilbride, Avondale and Stonehouse are living in poverty once housing costs are factored in.

It’s a sobering statistic although one which does not come as much of a surprise given last week’s interview with Denis Curran MBE of the Loaves and Fishes food bank charity.

The 75-year-old grandad said his organisation was rushed off its feet over the festive period – with food handouts up 50 per cent on the same time last year.

How do we eradicate child poverty? Unfortunately it would appear that there is no silver bullet.

Money is one thing – and a £50 million fund which will specifically tackle the issue is to be welcomed – but ensuring youngsters do well in school, people have jobs which pay a fair wage and those that are entitled to additional help get it also feature highly in providing answers to this age-old question. Elsewhere in the paper and on page 8, drivers in East Kilbride and Avondale are being encouraged to go on pothole patrol and help make sure roads battered by the bad weather are quickly fixed.

Where are the troublespots? Get in touch using one of the methods on the left-hand side of this page.

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