New "horrifying" research shows Portsmouth South has highest levels of child poverty in south east

The candidates standing to become the area’s next MP have reacted to the research by Loughborough University, on behalf of the End Child Poverty Coalition (ECPC), which found that a quarter of children in the South East of England are living in relative poverty.

Of the 91 parliamentary constituencies in this region that will be in place for the general election, more than half have a child poverty rate of 25 per cent or more.

Levels of child poverty range across the region, the difference between the area with the highest level and the lowest differs by 24.4 percentage points.

Portsmouth South ranks first on the list, followed by Southampton Test, Hastings and Rye and Southampton Itchen.

The child poverty figure for Portsmouth South is higher than 38 per cent.

The ECPC is calling on political parties to put child poverty at the top of their priority lists in the general election.

Additionally, they’ve called to scrap the two-child benefit cap which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

They claim that over 160,000 children are impacted by the cap in the South East, and removing it would lift 300,000 children out of poverty nationwide.

The cost of this was calculated at £1.8bn, however, the costs of child poverty across the UK are estimated to be £39bn due to the price of public services needed to address the issue.

Rising rent costs, insecure work, low pay plus a patchy welfare system have all been reported to be causes of child poverty in the UK.

Labour candidate for Portsmouth South Stephen Morgan said the number of children in poverty today was “horrifying”.

“I have seen this first-hand by devoting myself to helping families in Portsmouth since I was first elected as the local MP,” he said.

“The Tories’ failure on the economy alongside the cost of living crisis has pushed Portsmouth families into poverty and a million children across the country into destitution.

“The last Labour government lifted over a million children out of poverty, and it will again be down to us to fix the Tories’ mess with a new cross-government child poverty strategy.

“We will tackle the root causes of poverty by growing the economy, bringing down energy bills, building more affordable housing and protecting renters, delivering our Child Health Action Plan, cutting school uniform costs and supporting parents and children by providing breakfast clubs in every primary school.”

Elliott Lee, Green party candidate, added: “As a baseline, we know the removal of the two-child cap on benefit payments is key for raising hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. As such this is a pledge that I have and will always be committed to.

“This pledge is combined with a commitment to free school meals, an Increase to Universal Credit legacy benefits by £40 a week and reducing energy bills through a nationwide scheme of home insulation.

“I know how much these policies mean. It’s too often the difference between the whole family eating or just the kids.

“For too long, we’ve had a punitive system that treats benefits claimants as liars or cheaters, when really these are people who need a helping hand. We must stop treating poverty as if people just throw themselves into it for fun.

“In the long term, we would introduce a universal basic income to give everybody the security they need.”

Jacob Short, a candidate representing the Portsmouth Independent Party, said the country’s benefits system needs to be overhauled.

He said: “Child poverty in Portsmouth as a whole needs addressing, but Portsmouth South is seeing it worse. With just over 8,000 children in child poverty in the 2022/23 year, being an increase of 8.4 per cent since 2014/15.

“These statistics may show child poverty financially, but another impact on child poverty is education.

“Portsmouth has one of the worst literacy issues in the country. Families facing poverty need to be supported more by the local authorities and the state to ensure that everyone has the necessities to live a decent life, but also the children need further support within educational establishments ensuring that they are acquiring the basic skills such as literacy, numeracy and reading.

“I believe the two-child benefits cap system needs overall reform alongside the whole benefit system; modernising and updating the system and criteria to match the modern-day needs of the people of Portsmouth and the wider UK.

“Families of all sizes are facing a cost of living crisis and the current system means that larger families with more than two children will be struggling to make ends meet as they are having to pay for more than the average family while prices are skyrocketing and some necessities are becoming unaffordable.

“We, as the government, shouldn’t discourage responsible parents from wanting more than two children based mostly or only on the financial struggle it would bring.”

Liberal Democrat candidate Charlie Murphy said: “Along with the Liberal Democrats, I opposed the two-child benefit cap when it was introduced, and we oppose it now. It only serves to keep children in poverty and it must be scrapped.

“I’d challenge anyone to say that it is not only morally right but also the single most cost-effective way to tackle child poverty in this country.”

Other Portsmouth South candidates representing The Conservative Party and Reform UK were approached for comment.