RISE IN LIVING ON BREADLINE
MPs’ anger as nearly quarter of Wearside kids live in poverty
Sunderland MPs have slammed the Government over figures revealing nearly a quarter of children on Wearside have been living in poverty.
The End Child Poverty Coalition with Loughborough University has published an analysis of data from the Government that tracks child poverty across Britain before housing costs are taken into account.
Between 2014/15 and 2018/19, the North East of England saw child poverty numbers rise by 6.5%, with all councils in the region seeing increases.
As of 2018/19, 24.3% of children were living in poverty in Sunderland- a rise of 5.6% since 2014/15.
Sunderland MPs have now called on the Government to do more to support families living on the breadline.
Sunderland Central MP, Julie Elliott, said the figures were “truly shocking.”
“The Government simply must do more,” she said.
“They need to properly fund services, to invest in jobs and to fix the broken Universal Credit system. Our young people and children deserve so much better.
“As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the Government needs to start investment now in jobs and social security, so that this situation does not get even worse once this crisis is over.”
Washington and Sunderland West MP, Sharon Hodgson, said: “Ten years of austerity, imposed by the Lib D em Coalition and Conservative Governments, is having a heart-breaking impact on our children. The coronavirus pandemic is only making matters worse by squeezing family finances.
“In one of the richest economies in the world, no child should be growing up in poverty.
“That is why Labour is calling for an emergency package of social security reforms, including scrapping the twochild limit and benefit cap, to help parents provide for their children during the pandemic and indeed afterwards.”
Houghton and Sunderland South MP, Bridget Phillipson, added: “The fact that child poverty is now a reality for so many children in working families in the North East shows that the Government has failed to protect families from financial hardship, and properly invest in our region over the past decade.
“Now that we are facing one of the greatest economic challenges of our lifetimes, it is crucial that we design social security policies that put working people and families first, and create more job and educational opportunities in our region.
“The last Labour Government delivered a successful strategy to eliminate child poverty. Child poverty began to fall, but the policies of consecutiveConservativegovernmentshavesadlyreversedthe trend. There is much more government can and should be doing in order to give all children the start in life that they deserve.”
The child poverty figures are based on government estimates using family income data.
A Government spokesman said: “This government understands the challenges many are facing which is why we injected £6.5 billion into the welfare system, including increasing Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by up to £1,040 a year, as well as rolling out income protection schemes, mortgage holidays and additional support for renters.”