Oldham MP's blast for Government over ‘appalling’ new child poverty statistics

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams has described new statistics, which show nearly one in two Oldham children are growing up in poverty, as ‘utterly appalling’.

The statistics have been released by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in a report called ‘UK Poverty 24’.

They show that child poverty in Oldham is nearly the highest in the country, at 44%.

For context, Birmingham is the highest at 46%, followed by Sandwell and Manchester with 45%.

Since being elected in January 2011, Ms Abrahams has been vocal in demanding action on child poverty, including as a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

This is linked to her previous career prior to entering Parliament as a Public Health consultant and academic focused on tackling poverty and inequalities, including child poverty.

From her public health experience, Ms Abrahams insists she knows the impact child poverty has on the future life chances of children: for example, for every 1% increase in child poverty, there’s an additional 5.8 infant deaths per 100 000 live births.

To address these impacts on poverty and child health, at every Budget or Autumn Statement, Ms Abrahams urges the Government to publish what they assess the potential impacts of their policies on poverty and inequality will be.

So far, she says they’ve refused to do so.

But Labour’s Treasury team have accepted the challenge and as part of their Health Mission - a Labour Government will pledge to set out their assessment of the impacts of their economic policies on poverty, inequalities and health.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Health in all Policies, which Ms Abrahams chairs, has looked at how Government policies such as on the economy or social security affect poverty, inequality and ultimately our health.

For example, the Health in All Policies Group looked at the impact of the 2016 Welfare Reform and Work Act on the health of children and disabled people and found strong evidence that the social security measures such as the benefit freeze, the abolition of £30 a week support for disabled people and the extension of sanctions, was strongly associated with increased poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, which resulted in poor health and premature death.

Ms Abrahams has been supporting the calls of the Trussell Trust and Joseph Rowntree Foundation for an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ - an increase in the basic allowance for Universal Credit claimants that is generous enough for all claimants to be able to afford the essentials.

Commenting on the UK Poverty 24 report, Ms Abrahams said: “It is utterly appalling that nearly one in two children in Oldham and Saddleworth are growing up in poverty.

"It doesn’t need to be this way.

"Poverty and inequality are not inevitable.

“This is a damning indictment of a Government that has let down my constituents imposing a cost of living crisis on them through their incompetence and their deep cuts.

"As I told the Prime Minister last week, if we all had the same level of health at the least deprived 10% there would have been a million fewer deaths between 2012 and 2019.

“As your MP I will continue to campaign to end the moral scandal of child poverty, to increase good quality jobs, for a fair social security system there for any one of us if we become sick or disabled or fall on hard times and to embed health and wellbeing into all we do.”

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