MARK LAZAROWICZ MP SUPPORTS CAMPAIGN TO INTRODUCE SEASONAL GRANTS TO HELP THE POOREST FAMILIES

Mark Lazarowicz, MP for Edinburgh North & Leith, expressed his support today for Save the Children’s demand for seasonal grants for low-income parents struggling to afford basic items such as heating, clothes and proper food this Christmas.

A survey published by Save the Children on Universal Children’s Day (20th November) revealed that 85% of low-income parents in Britain find basic items such as bills, clothes and proper food the most expensive items related to bringing up a child.

Mark  said: “It’s pitiful that in this day and age parents in the UK are still struggling to afford the basic necessities like hot healthy food and warm clothes for their children. Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the EU we have some of the highest rates of child poverty. I support Save the Children’s call for Seasonal Grants which could lift 440,000 children out of poverty, and would represent a lifeline to families struggling to support themselves this Christmas.”

Mark has backed Parliamentary Early Day Motion 141 in support of the Save the Children campaign and supports Save the Children in their call for:

• The introduction of two Seasonal Grants to support families at the points of year when they are facing acute financial pressure. These grants alone could lift 440,000 children out of poverty.
• The government to introduce these Seasonal Grants as part of their wider investment into child poverty at the next Pre Budget Report, Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review.
• All political parties to sign up to the target to eradicate child poverty by 2020 and to agree on a level of poverty below which no child should fall.
• The public to support its campaign to end child poverty by signing up at www.savethechildren.org.uk/endchildpoverty    

For more information on Save the Children’s campaign, go to www.savethechildren.org.uk/endchildpoverty.

To read the Early Day Motion, go to EDM 141 >>>

Save the Children commissioned nfpSynergy to interview 1500 parents across the UK living below 60% median income (the Government’s official poverty measure).

Tony Blair set a target to eradicate child poverty in the UK by 2020, but the Government is currently off track having already missed their first target in March 2006. 3.4 million children live below the poverty line in the UK today. Save the Children calculates that there are up to 1 million children living in severe poverty in the UK – below 40% median income. That means a lone parent with 2 children living on £124 a week.

The UK has one of the worst child poverty rates in Europe, ranked 21st (joint with Greece and Poland) out of 27 countries behind France, Germany and Spain and many others. 

11th December 2006Back to Press Releases