logo
'I skipped dinner so my parents could eat my food - child poverty must end'

'I skipped dinner so my parents could eat my food - child poverty must end'

Daily Mirror14-06-2025
Growing up Georgia Sullivan would force down food she didn't like – in case there was no food at home. Now the 26-year-old and four other young people are calling on the government to end child poverty.
Growing up in poverty has left an indelible trace on Georgia Sullivan.
"I grew up with a fear of food, because I wasn't used to eating different things," Georgia, now 26, explains. "I'd be at school eating things I didn't usually eat, and I remember gagging because I needed to eat the meal because we might not have anything to eat at home. That's a core memory for me. As I got older, I'd sometimes not eat in the evening so my parents could eat my food."

Georgia from Nottingham, who grew up in North London and Stevenage adds: "Part of poverty is trying to pretend and act like things that are ordinary for other people aren't extraordinary for you. There were times growing up I was told not to open the door because of the bailiffs. All the physical things – like having nits for months because we couldn't afford the treatments – have a real impact. I'm dealing with the lasting consequences every day."

On Wednesday, Georgia and four other young people who grew up in poverty will hand deliver a letter to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall, Work and Pensions Secretary – who co-chair the government's Child Poverty Taskforce. From their own experiences, and as young ambassadors for Action For Children, these five young people know better than anyone that every day a child spends in poverty is one day too long.
After 14 years of brutal Tory Austerity, Labour inherited staggering levels of child poverty, affecting around 4.5 million children – yet the government's flagship Child Poverty Strategy has become mired in delays. Spring became summer, and now the strategy has reportedly been delayed until at least the autumn.
And while Wednesday's Spending Review saw a return from the Chancellor to core Labour values – full of bold plans for transport, the NHS, infrastructure – there was no mention of lifting the two-child benefit cap or other measures that could dramatically shift the dial on child poverty.
As internal rows continue to rage over the two-child limit, and benefit cuts continue down the pipeline, every day more children go hungry and endure health and mental health problems, bullying and indignities that will shape their adult lives. So, Georgia and a group of young people have decided to act to remind Labour of its manifesto commitment to end child poverty.

"Dear Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall," their letter says. "We know how it feels to grow up in poverty. We've felt the anxiety, shame, and loneliness that poverty causes. We felt it as children, and as adults we still feel it. We worry that we won't be able to keep our own children from it.
"Your government has said 'no child should be left hungry, cold or have their future held back' by poverty… Hearing these promises, we feel hopeful - but we're also worried… the two-child limit remains in place, and other benefits are being cut." They urge the cabinet ministers – "Please make the right choices."

After the welcome government U-turn on winter fuel, ministers can expect to be deluged by anti-poverty charities over the coming weeks, pushing for action on the two-child benefit cap.
Paul Carberry, CEO of Action for Children, welcomes the additional funding for children's social care, social housing, and the expansion of free school meals in the Spending Review. But he adds: "If this government is to succeed in its bold ambition to drive down the UK's shamefully high levels of child poverty, it must go further. The Child Poverty Strategy this autumn must rebuild our inadequate social security system, starting with scrapping the two-child limit and benefit cap."
Another of the letter's co-authors, Louise Fitt, 24, from West London, says growing up in poverty has deeply affected her adult life. "Childhood poverty affected me in every sense, from not having enough to eat, to coming home and there being no money on the meter to have a hot shower or watch TV," she says.

"We didn't have enough money for school uniforms, and we would wear our shoes until they were worn out. Not eating enough affected my concentration at school. We were underweight, malnourished. I couldn't go on school trips with my friends. I didn't know at the time we didn't' really have money, I thought I was being punished."
At the age of 11, Louise went into care, and later became a young parent. "I now work full-time as a civil servant but it's still a struggle to make ends meet," she says. "Many care leavers like me lack the support networks that most people take for granted. But when you come from nothing, it makes you more determined. I started with nothing, but I want to leave knowing I have achieved something and leave a legacy for my daughter."

Jo Rawle, 26, lives in Bideford, North-Devon. Having lived through childhood poverty, now – as a solo parent living in temporary accommodation – she fears history repeating for her four-year-old son. "My son has autism and complex additional needs," she says. "That means it's difficult for me to work until he starts school. Meanwhile, everything has gone up. Sometimes I run out of money to buy a bottle of milk or nappies or fuel, then I have to borrow money from a friend, which I have to pay back later."
Jo's benefits income is not enough to support her and her son. "I've visited food banks before. I make sure my son comes first. I've gone without a meal myself and I wear my clothes until they have holes in them."

A Government spokesman said: "We are determined to lift more children out of poverty. We have already expanded free school meals, increased the national minimum wage, rolled out breakfast clubs and introduced a fair repayment rate for universal credit deductions. And this week the spending review allocated £1bn in crisis support, including funding to feed hungry children during the holidays. We are determined to go further and that's why we will publish an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy later this year."
The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told the Mirror in the past about her family being 'pushed into poverty' when she was a child and has called child poverty "a scar on our society". "I know what it is to grow up on free school meals, to grow up in a household where there isn't enough: when the house is cold, the food runs short, when the choices about which others don't think twice just aren't there," she has said.
In Wednesday's Spending Review speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that "every young person should have the equal chance to succeed". Young campaigners Georgia, Freya, Aaron, Louise, Holly and 4.5 million children are counting on Labour to make the right decisions.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

It's hard to see new left party cutting through in Scotland
It's hard to see new left party cutting through in Scotland

The National

timean hour ago

  • The National

It's hard to see new left party cutting through in Scotland

The first thing to say is that if it is able to break out of the factions and abbreviations which abound in the terrain to the left of Labour – and with 300,000 claimed sign-ups and a poll rating of 10% it just might – then it marks a very big change in socialist thinking. For more than a century, socialists who wanted to change capitalism have rubbed along in the Labour Party with those who just wanted a bit more from it. Now large sections of the Labour left look set to give up the ghost. For me, that ship sailed long ago. It's more than two decades since I became convinced that using the powers that Scotland would get with political independence offered a much better prospect of changing the world than trying to reform a British state run by people still steeped in the mindset of empire. READ MORE: Man arrested for 'carrying a placard calling Donald Trump an offensive word' Nonetheless it's an important debate. The political character of England should matter greatly to Scotland and this new party might even play a role here. In one sense the Labour left has nowhere to go. Those now in control of the party have made it perfectly clear radical views are no longer welcome within it. They have been demonised and purged. Labour is manifesting every bit as much intolerance and authoritarianism in its internal structures as it does in government. But how did it come to this? A short time ago the Labour left had more power than at any point in the party's history. Corbyn was leader and commanded the considerable resources provided to the parliamentary opposition by the state. The left controlled the conference and the NEC. And the mobilisation of the grassroots through Momentum was impressive in its day. Yet within a few short years it had all evaporated. Corbyn and others left or were expelled, policy was abandoned wholesale, and the Labour conference would sing the national anthem with no visible dissent. It has been a remarkable transition both in speed and scale. In part this is because the Corbyn project failed abjectly (Image: Getty) in its own terms. Jeremy became leader by accident. And he wasn't very good at it. I watched for years in the House of Commons the breathtaking disloyalty of the right-wing Labour parliamentarians towards the Corbyn front bench. It was embarrassing. Never have I seen such hostility and hate between political parties, never mind within one. But no-one got suspended, or expelled or deselected. They were ignored, left alone to operate as a party within a party. Despite his strength in the wider party organisation, Corbyn never moved against his enemy within. Too naïve, or too nice. Either way, a fatal mistake. Corbyn also never got out of his silo, unwilling or incapable of moving beyond his natural support. He should have developed a narrative about Brexit or constitutional reform that would have galvanised a wider alliance which the left could lead. He didn't. Once defeated, his opponents lost no time in eradicating any possible legacy. These right-wing parliamentarians had been busy making plans. There were organised by a ruthless and clever Irishman called Morgan McSweeney under the banner Labour Together. McSweeney built a strategy for power inspired by Odysseus. Seeing the popularity of left policies in the party, and among the electorate, he argued for 'Corbynism without Corbyn'. But he needed someone to front it who couldn't immediately be outed as a right-wing hack. Step forward the hapless Keir Starmer. You'll cringe to look now at the ten-point platform McSweeney drew up for Starmer's leadership bid. Common ownership, higher income tax on top earners, improving welfare, and more. It worked at the time. Those Labour members who hadn't left after their leader fell lapped it up. Once in position, McSweeney and his acolytes didn't show any hesitation that might have come from wanting to be nice or fair. At breakneck speed and with ruthless efficiency they brushed aside anyone in their way, including many on the soft left, which they saw as a gateway for extremists. They won through deceit, but at the price of the party itself. Which is why we've got a new one. So, what does this mean for us? We've just got used to Scotland being a plurality in which six parties compete. Are we now to have seven? It's hard to see. Certainly, there's plenty of discontent within Labour ranks, but not nearly as much as in places like London. Besides, there's already plenty of options where the disenchanted could escape to. And across it all lies the independence question. Not really something you can avoid. Is it plausible, or possible, for a new party to say we're really radical and want a complete overhaul of the system, but we are agnostic on whether Scotland should be an independent country or remain in the UK? Especially when they would, by definition, be living proof of the failure of the latter option.

John Swinney hints at rescue package to save Alexander Dennis jobs
John Swinney hints at rescue package to save Alexander Dennis jobs

The National

timean hour ago

  • The National

John Swinney hints at rescue package to save Alexander Dennis jobs

The Scottish Government has today confirmed it is looking at a rescue package it thinks could save jobs at Alexander Dennis – but said details were being kept under wraps due to 'commercial sensitivity'. The firm has threatened to end its manufacturing operations in Scotland by closing its sites in Larbert and Falkirk, putting 400 jobs on the line. It is planning to centralise its operations in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. In a statement, Swinney indicated that a package of new work to keep jobs in Scotland was being explored. READ MORE: Protesters to slam SNP's £180,000 cash award to Donald Trump golf course He said: 'Scottish Ministers place the utmost importance on the presence of Alexander Dennis in Scotland and the retention of its highly skilled manufacturing workers. 'The Scottish Government has committed to exploring any and all viable options throughout the consultation period to allow the firm to retain its skilled employees and manufacturing and production facilities. 'While I cannot provide details due to commercial sensitivity at this time, I hope this update provides the workforce and local community with further assurance that the Scottish Government remains wholly committed to supporting the future of bus manufacturing in Scotland. 'We will undertake this work in tandem with every other short, medium and long-term opportunity we continue to explore in close collaboration with the company, Unite, GMB, Scottish Enterprise, Transport Scotland and the UK Government.' Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes is meeting unions GMB and Unite to discuss the proposal while [[Transport]] Secretary Fiona Hyslop attends a meeting of the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel in London focusing on the future pipeline of zero-emission bus orders. READ MORE: Trans toilet rules 'may force Scottish museums to close' It was reported earlier this month that a consultation with the workforce on job losses would be extended for another fortnight to explore ways of keeping jobs in Scotland. There have also been proposals to put staff on a furlough scheme to retain jobs in Scotland before work on new orders came in. Unite's regional secretary for Scotland Derek Thomson previously told a Holyrood committee that the closure of Alexander Dennis's Scottish operations would be "catastrophic" for the local area. The threat of closure has already spilled into the Scottish economy, with Greenfold Systems Ltd, based in Dunfermline, Fife, closing because a major proportion of its operations were involved with the troubled bus firm. A total of 81 jobs were lost after the "loss of a major contract", administrators said. The threatened closure has become a major political issue, with Scottish Labour accusing the SNP of failing to do enough to support the firm. Anas Sarwar has repeatedly criticised John Swinney of having done "nothing" to save jobs, pointing out that the [[SNP]] were ordering "buses from China, instead of from Scotland". But it later emerged that in Labour-run Edinburgh, where the buses are municipally owned by the council, had not bought buses from Alexander Dennis in the last three years.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store