Brooke signs up to child poverty pledge

11.56.58am GMT Thu 1st Mar 2007

Local MP, Annette Brooke, has pledged to do all she can to beat child poverty in the UK by 2020.

Annette will do all she can to eradicate child poverty by 2020

The MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole attended the parliamentary launch of Save the Children's UK child poverty exhibition at the House of Commons this week. The photography exhibition, 'Missing Pieces', by photojournalist Anna Kari, captures the harsh reality of life for the 3.4 million children living below the poverty line in the UK today.

Department of Work and Pensions Child Poverty Minister, Jim Murphy MP, opened the exhibition, and invited other MPs to join him in signing up to Save the Children's child poverty pledge.

Annette Brooke, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Children, Young People and Families, said:

"The Save the Children exhibition really brought home what child poverty means in this country. 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 have signed up to Save the Children's poverty pledge saying that I will do all I can as a parliamentarian to ensure that child poverty in the UK is eradicated by 2020."

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 14.2% of children In Mid Dorset and North Poole are in families on out of work benefits.

Colette Marshall, UK Director of Save the Children, said:

"All three major political parties have now signed up to the target of eradicating child poverty by 2020 and yet our campaign continues. The Government now needs to turn their promises and rhetoric into reality and use the vital opportunities of 2007, the Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review, to change the lives of the poorest children in Britain."

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Save the Children Media Unit: +44 (0) 207 012 6841

Email address: media@savethechildren.org.uk

Notes to Editors

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

Save the Children is part of the campaign to End Child Poverty, go to www.endchildpoverty.org.uk, to find out more.

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 two 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.