PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Child poverty in the North West (6 June 2021)

That this House notes that recent End Child Poverty coalition research indicates that there were 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2019-20, more than a third of children in the North West are growing up in poverty after housing costs are factored in, child poverty levels have risen in almost every local area in the North West from 2016 to 2020, and 75 per cent of children growing up in poverty live in a household where at least one person works; recognises the serious impact that childhood poverty can have on children's physical and mental health, education and life chances; welcomes the cross-sector support for urgent and ongoing action to tackle growing levels of child poverty; further recognises the work of myriad voluntary and community sector organisations such as Greater Manchester Poverty Action, Shared Health, and Salford CVS; acknowledges the findings of the latest End Child Poverty survey that less than one in five people think the Government is doing all it can to tackle this issue; calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to fully commit to fighting child poverty by removing the two-child limit and the benefit cap, retaining the £20 a week uplift to universal credit longer term, extending the uplift to families on legacy benefits, and committing to increasing child-related benefits in the near future; and supports ringfencing additional Government funding for local lifeline organisations in the voluntary and community sector.

Sponsored by:
Rebecca Long Bailey (Independent)