Stephen Morgan MP used Work and Pensions departmental questions today to grill the Government on their record on child poverty, following the release of a Joseph Rowntree report that shows one million children experienced destitution in the last year.
Recent analysis has shown that 3.8 million people experienced destitution in the UK in 2022, including around one million children.
Despite living in one of the richest countries in the world, around 3 in 10 children (4.3 million children across the UK) live in poverty. This is up by 3.6 million in 2010, an increase of 700,000 since the Conservatives entered office.
The City MP asked the Government Minister:
“A recent Joseph Rowntree report shockingly revealed that a million children experienced destitution in the UK last year.
Isn’t it the case that the Tories have completely failed the most vulnerable children in our society?”
One of the crowning achievements of the last Labour Government was to lift a million children out of poverty.
Labour now has a plan to grow the economy to put money back into people’s pockets, make work pay, and deliver a bold, new cross-government child poverty strategy.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“The Tories crashed the economy, unleashing a cost-of-living crisis with a society that now has more food banks than police stations.
“It is a damning indictment of the Government that a million children experienced destitution in the last year. It is clear they cannot be trusted to protect some of the most vulnerable children in our society from falling through the net.
“The last Labour Government made it a priority to tackle child poverty, and the next Labour Government will do the same, with a focus on reducing child poverty at the centre of how we secure opportunity for children and young people from every background and every corner of our country.”
Mr Morgan has been a key proponent of Labour’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity, so every child succeeds and thrives and is working with a number of local groups to take action on the impact the cost of living crisis has had on children and local families.
