Oliver Twists speak out about poverty on Brighton’s streets

These past few weeks I’ve been busy with the launch of the Our Shout mock election videos on our Yell for Youth page, then the Budget and the Royal Assent of the Child Poverty Act – all followed by a trip to Brighton as part of our Election Campaign.

I was there to meet a group of Oliver Twist petitioners who want to put child poverty in the history books. They’ve collected over 2,000 signatures that shows Brighton wants the same.

Local candidates Caroline Lucas from the Green Party and Nancy Platts from the Labour Party met local supporter Christopher Tuft to add their support to the campaign.

“While the Labour government has invested hugely in international development to tackle global poverty and made a commitment to end child poverty in the UK, so much more still needs to be done,” said Labour candidate Nancy Platt. “I’m supporting Save the Children’s ‘Poverty Kills Childhood’ manifesto because we must not rest until every child lives a life free of poverty and full of opportunity.”

“I’m delighted to be backing Save the Children’s Poverty Kills Childhood Campaign. It’s a scandal that in Brighton and Hove 42% of children are living in low-income households, and that globally 8.8 million children in the world’s poorest countries die every year before their fifth birthday,” said Green party candidate Caroline Lucas. “We need urgent action to end child poverty now.”

The sun shone. It was a good day.