Protesters including children, charities, unions and MPs took part in the 'Keep the Promise' rally organised by the End Child Poverty campaign, a coalition of 120 organisations. Director of End Child Poverty Hilary Fisher said, 'We're extremely grateful for everyone who made the effort to come to London for this historic event. With 3.9 million children in this country living in poverty, public pressure is vital to make the Government keep its pledge to put an end to child poverty today.'
Figures analysing the percentage of workless families and families on working tax credit were released by the campaign last week.
Official measures of child poverty are based on a national survey of family income, which shows poverty at national and regional level.
The campaign said this new breakdown, while not a direct measure of how many children are in poverty, shows for the first time the number of children in struggling families. The figures provide a league table of the parliamentary constituencies with the highest levels of child poverty across the UK.
The figures, calculated by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, are obtained from child tax credit and working tax credit data.
Birmingham Ladywood tops the list for the highest level of child poverty, with 28,420 or 81 per cent of children in low-income families. The most concentrated area is in Glasgow Baillieston, where an estimated 98 per cent of children are either in poverty or struggling to get by.
Campaign chairman Martin Narey said, 'These figures show us that there are millions more children than originally thought being failed by the system.'
