Tackling Child Poverty Locally and Nationally

Last Updated December 2025

In my view, child poverty is one of the most urgent challenges facing our community and our country. Before entering Parliament, I worked in education and local government, including as Cabinet Member for Children in Redcar & Cleveland, where I led on the local Child Poverty Strategy. I am passionate about this issue.

Families across Teesside are disproportionately feeling the pressure, and when I was elected I was determined that I would not allow a situation where 7,000 children in our constituency were growing up in poverty. This is a moral failure, but it is also an economic one: we know that children in poverty go on to have worse outcomes when they grow up, which holds back our local economy and costs us all in the long run. There is a direct link between children in poverty growing up to be adults not in work. It is critical that this issue is tackled.

With that in mind, let me set out my record so far as your MP:

• I have pushed for the expansion of state-funded Breakfast Clubs in our schools. I voted in favour of removing the tax breaks private schools enjoyed in order to fund the first wave of breakfast clubs, and I am proud that our area has been successful in the first pilots, with eight local schools in East Cleveland, Guisborough, and south Middlesbrough selected. All schools in our area will be included in the national rollout, meaning every family will be able to access them without having to pay.
• I called for the cruel two-child limit to be scrapped, and campaigned for this to be funded through levies on the gambling industry rather than taxes on working people. This was successful, and I voted for the legislation to scrap the limit. This will lift approximately 2,400 children in our constituency out of poverty, and over 20,000 across the wider Tees Valley. The policy was a failed experiment which never worked, but did push thousands into hardship.
• I supported the expansion of free school meal eligibility in Parliament, benefitting 4770 children in our constituency. In our area, we are well-prepared for the expansion – both Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council and Middlesbrough Council are piloting auto-enrolment of eligible children for free school meals, so families do not have to fill out extra forms to apply when they become eligible. Nationally, this policy is expected to lift 100,000 children out of poverty and support improved behaviour, attainment and wellbeing in schools.
• I supported the Labour Government’s rollout of funded childcare support, including the expansion to 30 funded hours for working parents and the 3,000 new and expanded school-based nurseries.

Having overseen children’s social care locally, I also believe children’s social care services across the Tees Valley should be overhauled, with the establishment of a regional care co-operative. Everyone I have met working in children’s social care is dedicated and committed, but the broken care market is letting down children, staff and councils alike. 

Across these policies, the common theme is that I will always fight to support working-class families and improve opportunities for Teesside children. Some will argue that the state should not bother to intervene in the early years, and that it should be left to parents. But I believe that all of us have a stake in the future of the next generation. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that every child, regardless of the circumstances of birth, has access to the support, stability, and opportunities needed to thrive. By investing in the early years, we can create a fairer society, a stronger future economy, and better-funded care services we will rely on.

There is much more to do to improve the living standards of working parents, but these are major steps forward which I am proud of. I remain deeply committed to working locally and nationally so that every child in our area grows up with opportunity, security, and hope.