Community Links

Community Links families and staff campaign to end child poverty (image: www.rebecca-marshall.com )

 At Community Links much of our work over thirty years has been tackling the causes and consequences of poverty. We work not only to tackle the day-to-day impact of poverty, but to campaign for long term change to prevent the next generation of local children growing up in poverty. Our research and ongoing work on child poverty was recently summarised in our Social Change booklet.  

As proud members of the Campaign to End Child Poverty  we join the call for the government to support  children in poverty and reprint below a Press Release from the End Child Poverty campaign.

Read today’s Press Relese from the ECP campaign:

As leaders of the world’s richest economies gather for the G20, the Campaign to End Child Poverty is calling on the Government to support children in the Poverty-20, the 20 UK constituencies with the highest levels of child poverty. 

The campaign, the UK’s largest coalition of children’s charities and other organisations, is publishing figures on its website indicating rates of child poverty in UK parliamentary constituencies, local authorities and wards.

Birmingham, Ladywood is the constituency with the highest level of child poverty, closely followed by Bethnal Green and Bow, Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath and Manchester Central.

In Edinburgh, near to where the Chancellor Alistair Darling is an MP, 94% of children in Greendykes and Niddrie Mains ward live in poverty or are in families struggling on low incomes.

Hilary Fisher, director of the campaign, said,

“We’re deliberately drawing attention to the fact that, at a time when the G20 richest nations are meeting to bail out the world’s richest economies, there are still children suffering terrible hardship in this country’s 20 poorest constituencies. That’s why we’re calling our campaign the P20.”  

Clare Short, MP for Birmingham, Ladywood, where 81% of children live in poverty, said the Government’s response to the global crisis should include helping children. She said,

“Britain should use the G20 meeting to call for a worldwide effort to counter the recession by improving the lives of poor children. This should be followed by a big boost for poor families in Britain in the budget. It could be paid for by a special tax on the excessive income of the bankers who have, by their greed, wrecked the global economy.”

One of her struggling constituents, Shazad Zaman, who lives in Ladywood, said,

“It’s all very well leaders pouring money into banks but does it ever reach people like me who have to choose between keeping their families warm or buying food.”

The ExCel centre where the G20 leaders are meeting is in the constituency of Poplar and Canning Town, which has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the country.

Kevin Jenkins co-founder of Community Links, a nearby charity that works with disadvantaged families, said,

“It’s ironic that the G20 is meeting here. Child poverty will be all around the leaders and I would ask them not to ignore it as these children’s situation is bound to be made worse by the economic situation. “

Research carried out ahead of the G20 for the Campaign to End Child Poverty found that nearly four out of ten people believe low-income families are the most deserving of Government money following the bail out of financial institutions. 

Hilary Fisher said:

“Children are our future and the Government should not forget families while it takes action to stabilise the world’s financial markets. It needs to invest at least £3 billion in tax credits and benefits to safeguard the future of 3.9 million children living in poverty in the UK today.

For more information, about this press release please contact:
Chloë Bryan-Brown 020-7278 3405, media@ecpc.org.uk