Glasgow girls on a London mission to end child poverty

Four teenagers from the east end of Glasgow are to visit Downing Street with a message for Chancellor Alistair Darling: to end child poverty.

Tuesday 31 March 2009

The visit to Alistair Darling at No. 11 comes ahead of the Budget on 22 April, which is the last chance for the government to keep its promise of halving child poverty by 2010. We're calling for the government to invest at least £3 billion in the country’s poorest children, as part of any fiscal stimulus package.

The young women, who volunteer for Save the Children, will be presenting the Chancellor with papier-mache sculptures made from over 7,000 petitions and campaign cards that call on the government to take action for the one in three children across the UK who are living in poverty.   

At the weekend the Treasury indicated that Alistair Darling is very carefully considering the argument that making a one-off payment to the UK's poorest families will stimulate the economy. Colette Marshall, Save the Children's Director of UK Programmes commented:
 
'We would be delighted if the Chancellor invests in Britain's poorest families in the Budget. But this should not be a matter for debate. The government should not be questioning whether or not to honour its promise to help children out of poverty.'

One of the four girls visiting Alistair Darling from Glasgow’s East End said:  "The £3 billion will help a lot because it will allow each child to be treated as an individual and to be given the same chances in life as other children." Save the Children volunteer Natalie, aged 16.

Watch a clip of the volunteers making the papier mache figures and delivering them to the government.

Views of UK Children born in 1999 when Labour made its pledge to end child poverty

‘Children who are poor might feel left out and sad because they don’t have the things that other children of the same age as them have because their parents can’t afford to buy them. They might be living in houses with mould and damp in them and they haven’t got warm clothes and will catch a chill. Everyone should have fresh fruit to stay healthy and happy, but if you can’t afford to buy them people might lose sleep at night worrying about that, and that’s also not very good for your health.’

“In (the UK ) poverty is not as bad as it is in foreign countries where they have no clean water and shelter, but you do see some people on the streets with their pets and you feel sorry for them. They need more money to buy clothes and food and I think they feel glum and unhappy. It’s hard for the government to keep the promise because of the recession but they should try because every child deserves to be happy.”

 

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