General election candidates are being asked ‘what are YOU going to do about poverty?’

All political parties are being asked to tackle poverty, with nearly 5,000 emails sent to candidates across the country ahead of the general election. That’s according to charity Christians Against Poverty.

Poverty should be the headline general election issue

CAP’s director of external affairs, Gareth McNab, said:

Poverty in the UK is a matter of public urgency. It’s vital that any candidate standing in this general election appreciates this is an emergency situation. National polling that CAP commissioned with YouGov last year showed that almost 90 percent of adults in the UK want to see poverty tackled.

Data from our online tool shows more than 4,700 emails have already been sent to candidates, with 56% asking what their candidates are doing to tackle poverty locally.

14.3 million people including 4.3 million children, are living in poverty in the UK, according to the DWP. However, most recently the Trades Union Congress (TUC) released new figures. As the Canary previously reported TUC analysis shows that the number of kids living in poverty with at least one parent in work increased by 900,000 (44%) between 2010 and 2023 – the equivalent to 1,350 a week.

The TUC says in 2023 there were three million kids in working households living below the breadline in the UK.

Children growing up in poverty in working households now account for:

• 69% of all children in poverty.
• 24% of all children in working households.

Spiralling debt

Meanwhile, according to CAP their debt service is unable to help almost half of the people who come to them for help because they are trapped in deficit budgets (meaning no matter how much a person cuts back, their essential outgoings are higher than their income).

In addition to increasing people’s income to meet the Minimum Income Standard, we also need to focus on public services such as public transport and free school meals, which will help to keep people’s costs down.

The online tool provided by CAP allows people to easily question their general election prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) about what they are doing to tackle poverty. Anyone can use CAP’s online tool here, which takes just a couple of minutes to fill out and send.

Poverty: an impossible situation

Anthony spoke about why poverty matters to the election this year. He said:

This is an impossible situation, and I just see the divide between the rich and poor growing greater. Even though I only spend money on essentials such as food and bills, and even skip meals, my monthly income is £200 short.

I’d love to get to the point where I could afford to take my kids to watch a film, but unless poverty is put on the political agenda, I can’t see any end in sight. The help provided by Christians Against Poverty has given me a glimmer of hope, but it shouldn’t be left to charities.

Featured image via Envato Elements