Schoolboy so hungry he tried to eat glue at school, say MP
A BIRMINGHAM schoolboy was so hungry he tried to eat a pot of his school’s glue, a city MP claimed.
Preet Gill spoke of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on her poorest constituents, with food inflation running at nearly 15 per cent last month.
The Edgbaston Labour MP told a committee parents were skipping meals and children were coming to school unfed.
She said: “I spoke to a headteacher in my constituency recently who told me they have children turning up to school a nervous wreck, having seen their parents skipping meals and unable to concentrate, often hungry themselves.
“One boy she spoke of was so hungry that they caught him trying to eat a pot of PVA glue. This is a national crisis but an international one too which we have as much interest in solving.”
She was speaking to a Commons committee on global food hunger.
In Birmingham there are more than 100,000 children living in poverty, the equivalent of 37 per cent of all children in the city, after housing costs.
It is the second-highest rate of child poverty across the UK’s core cities.
Ms Gill, who represents Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne and Quinton, said: “In the year to September food and non-alcohol beverage prices rose to nearly 15 per cent, the highest rate in nearly 40 years. And for many basics this is even higher. And for our poorest constituents the impact is even worse as more of their disposal income is siphoned away on the essentials. At this point we can all cite shocking tales from our constituency mailbag.”
Poverty is defined as living in a family with an income 60 per cent below the median income, after housing costs. It means the family income is significantly less than the income of middle-income families.