COMMENT: Far too many children are growing up in poverty

As a councillor for the Charles Dickens ward, which traditionally has high levels of poverty, he sees up close how families are finding it really tough to afford even a basic quality of life.

We report today how government data compiled by End Child Poverty and Loughborough University shows that in 2018, 20.3 per cent of children in Portsmouth were living in poverty – up from 15.8 per cent in 2014.

That is one in every five children living in a family where just putting food on the table each day is a struggle. It's a frightening statistic.

There's a similar story in Havant, where child poverty levels rose from 13.8 per cent in 2014 to 18.6 per cent in 2018. It’s the same in Gosport, up from 12.2 per cent to 16 per cent in the same time period - and there’s a rise too in Fareham, from eight per cent to 10.2 per cent.

Compare these figures with the average for the south east, which had a child poverty rate of 13.7 per cent in 2018 – a 2.9 per cent increase from 2014.

Don't forget, these statistics are two years old. As the coronavirus pandemic paralyses our economy, jobs are lost and recession looms, they may well be even higher now.

So how have we reached a situation where famlies are so poor that they are relying on food banks to eat? Labour MP Mr Morgan points to a four-year government freeze of working-age benefits for the poorest families and delays dealing with Universal Credit claims.

Whatever your political persuasion, nobody can deny the harsh reality that too many children are growing up in poverty and risk being disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

As a society we must do all we can to give young people the opportunity to fulfil their potential.