No child left behind: building on progress to end child poverty
3 min read
In Bury North, 38 per cent of children live in poverty and higher than the national average.
That’s nearly 9,000 young lives affected by hunger, housing insecurity, and constant worry. While parts of our town do well, others - often just a street away - are struggling or sinking. On paper, Bury North can look prosperous, with well-off suburbs, nice looking schools and a proud heritage. But the reality for too many families is very different.
I see it in conversations with parents in places like Chesham Fold and parts of East Ward, working every hour they can and still struggling to make ends meet. I see it in schools where breakfast clubs are a lifeline. I hear it from families doing everything right - working hard, budgeting carefully, prioritising their children and still finding that there’s nothing left at the end of the working week and monthly pay falls a few weeks short.
Most shocking of all is the gap in life expectancy. A child born in one part of Bury may live a decade less than one born just a mile down the road. That’s not just unjust, it is something we should completely reject and never accept. Inequality is embedded. If we don’t take determined action, it will determine the futures of thousands of children here and millions across Britain.
That’s why I welcome the hive of activity in the government’s first year and the combined approach being taken. The expansion of free school meals to all children in households receiving Universal Credit is transformational. For many families, this will mean hot, nutritious meals that help children learn and leave a little more money for other essentials.
But it doesn’t stop there. Action to reduce school uniform costs, the increase in the minimum wage, stronger rights at work, better parental leave, health hubs, the new Best Start programme – Sure Start for a new generation – and targeted funding for working-class communities are all evidence of the right instincts. The commitment to put the hardest-up first in new funding rounds is exactly the approach we need. I’ll always support policies that make a real difference for children and families.
This roll call is a great base camp on which to move from in scaling the challenge to end child poverty. If the money can be found, made possible by the growth we are sowing into the economy now, I still believe in scrapping the two-child limit on Universal Credit because it remains the single most effective way to lift children out of poverty quickly. I understand the need for fiscal responsibility. I know too how seriously the commitment to end child poverty is in the hearts and thinking of this government and the story it wishes to write for our country.
Looking ahead to the Child Poverty Taskforce’s report, it is right that we take a holistic approach to this ingrained challenge. Poverty does not exist in isolation – it’s woven through housing, education, health, and opportunity. And when the time comes, we must be ready to fund what works, because investing in children is investing in Britain’s future.
Bury is a place of strength, pride, and resilience. We look out for one another, and it’s in that spirit that we must now look harder at the real struggles families face. Local intervention, evidence-driven action, and policy shaped by lived experience will make the difference. Together, with the right instincts, the ambition we share, and the determination to act we can end child poverty in this country. And every child, in every part of Bury and Britain, can grow up with the security, support, and opportunity they deserve.
