Covid-19 has exposed inequality in its harshest terms, and the government is failing to support communities hit hardest by this pandemic. Families up and down the country face the triple threat of no free school meals, no access to remote learning and the impending cut to Universal Credit.

With 15,000 children in Tower Hamlets reliant on free school meals, it is unacceptable that the government's ongoing free school meals scandal puts their wellbeing at risk.

To compound this insecurity, Tower Hamlets has 10,000 children in urgent need of laptops to enable home learning, and many families don’t have access to the internet. Time and again I, along with the Labour party, have raised the issue of the digital divide and the damaging impact this is having on our children. Once again [education secretary] Gavin Williamson has failed our children.

With many already on the brink, the government's plan to remove the £20 Universal Credit uplift will push families over the edge. Nationally it’s been estimated that 200,000 people could be lifted out of poverty if the uplift is maintained.

It is vital that the £20 uplift in Universal Credit is maintained, that there is a long-term plan for free school meal provision, and widespread access to digital devices and internet access are made available to children as a matter of urgency.