Child poverty akin to Dickens’ time

AS a constituent of Jacob ReesMogg I was dismayed to hear his recent comments in the House of Commons in respect of the assistance which Unicef is providing to children in Southwark.

The assistance being provided in the form of breakfast clubs for some of the poorest children in our society is critical to sustaining their health in the short term as well as their long term life chances.

We know that children concentrate for longer and learn better if they do so when they are not hungry.

What we also know about the current pandemic is that its impact is being disproportionately felt by the poorest in our society.

Whatever he might personally feel about the reasons why individual families fall on hard times – finding it impossible to feed and support themselves – it cannot be right that children have to suffer because of it.

They are innocent bystanders in this unfolding economic and public health catastrophe and it is incumbent on a civilised society to ensure that they are protected and they are nurtured so that in the fullness of time they can fulfil their undoubted potential and make their own contributions to society.

At a time of year founded on Dickensian tradition, rather than criticising Unicef one wonders whether Mr Rees-Mogg might have been better spent reflecting on how it came to pass that we seem to have made scant progress in the 175 years since A Christmas Carol was written.

In the mid 21st century – in the capital city of one of the wealthiest nations in the world – the yawning gap in provision to support the most vulnerable in our society is laid bare for all to see.

Jonathan Layzell Hinton Blewett, Somerset