Lib Dems Lead Fight Against Child Poverty in MK

Liberal Democrats welcome the interim report from the Child Poverty Commission

The Milton Keynes Child Poverty Commission presented its interim report to Milton Keynes Council's Cabinet last night.

The Child Poverty Commission was called for by the Liberal Democrats last year, and last month the Liberal Democrats also secured £25,000 in next year's MK Council budget to provide schools with one-off grants to set up breakfast or lunch clubs in and out of term time.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Jane Carr, who brought forward the motion calling for the Child Poverty Commission, said:

"We welcome this report and its recommendations. Children's wellbeing is our priority, and the report shows that the Council can make changes now to help our children.

"The fact that more than 75% of all children in poverty in Milton Keynes are in households where at least one person is working shows that we must fight to end in-work poverty by remaining committed to the real Living Wage and affordable childcare.

"The Liberal Democrats demanded that the Child Poverty Commission be created last year because our children, in both rural and urban areas of our borough, do indeed deserve better, and this report shows that.

"We'll work closely with the Labour-led administration on this because all parties know that we need to do everything we can to make sure the children of Milton Keynes reach their full potential."

Just as MK Lib Dems are leading the fight against child poverty in Milton Keynes, our 2019 General Election manifesto was found to be the most progressive of the three main parties at lifting children out of poverty. The Resolution Foundation, an independent think-tank found Lib Dem national policy would mean 600,000 fewer children in poverty by 2023-24. To read more click here.