However clearly the electorate as a whole don’t. This is a shame because the policies that have seen a massive increase in childhood poverty are going to continue unabated. We really are looking at a disenfranchised generation:
- There are 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK today. That’s 27 per cent of children, or more than one in four.
- There are even more serious concentrations of child poverty at a local level: in 100 local wards, for example, between 50 and 70 per cent of children are growing up in poverty
- Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. Two-thirds (66 per cent) of children growing up in poverty live in a family where at least one member works
- People are poor for many reasons. But explanations which put poverty down to drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown, poor parenting, or a culture of worklessness are not supported by the facts
- Child poverty blights childhoods. Growing up in poverty means being cold, going hungry, not being able to join in activities with friends. For example, 61 per cent of families in the bottom income quintile would like, but cannot afford, to take their children on holiday for one week a year.
(facts courtesy of Child Poverty Action Group)
I really wasn’t joking when I tweeted:
Overnight Britain has become a Dickensian Theme Park. And we’re mostly part of the attraction.
— Daddacool (@daddacool) May 8, 2015
But it’s all too easy to get bogged down in doom and despair. Do something positive, I’ve just set up a regular donation to the Trussell Trust; they are one of many organisations that run food banks so that people can actually eat. Over 25% of children in poverty have working parents, and even if they’re not working, it’s not their kids fault is it?
You can give here, any amount helps.