Seema Malhotra MP, the Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston, has called for the government to come forward with “a serious plan to eradicate child poverty” after new data from the End Child Poverty Coalition has revealed that 40.6% of children in her constituency are living in poverty. This puts Feltham and Heston in the top 10% of constituencies for child poverty rates across the UK. 

Malhotra pledged her support at an event in Parliament hosted by the End Child Poverty Coalition, an association of over 100 organisations campaigning to ensure that no child growing up in the UK lives in poverty. 

Speaking after the event, the MP said: 

“These statistics are incredibly worrying. The stories I hear from parents are heartbreaking – children growing up in temporary accommodation, relying on food banks, unable to afford school uniforms or pyjamas or in school too hungry to learn.” 

“Every child should be given the best possible start in life. In the twenty-first century, in one of the world’s richest countries, we should now be on our way to eradicating poverty, but we are not. The Government’s cuts and the cost of living crisis have meant that even more children than ever are living in poverty. It is inexplicable that the Tories abolished the child poverty target and the child poverty unit that the last Labour Government introduced.” 

“Labour is committed to tackling child poverty – opening free breakfast clubs in every school, ending educational inequalities and reforming the social security system to treat everyone with dignity and respect and provide genuine security for all families. It is a mission that calls for support across the political spectrum.”