After government minister Iain Duncan Smith said he could live on £53 per week, campaigners are going one better by pledging to live on just £1 per day.

Susanne Maurer and Denise Carroll are taking on the five day ‘Live Below the Line’ challenge in a bid to highlight the conditions facing an estimated 1.4 billion people globally.

Marketing manager Susanne, of Tomlinson Close, Bethnal Green said: “It’s probably the toughest challenge that I can face.

“It’s my third year of taking part and it’s not getting easier!”

Denise, of Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs, is raising cash for humanitarian organisation, Concern Worldwide.

She said: “I imagine the challenge will be tough. But, when I’m finding it tough I know I’m able to think ‘it’s only five days for me - others spend a lifetime living on so little.’”

The £1 daily budget represents the World Bank’s ‘extreme poverty line’.

The pair will be taking on the challenge from April 29 to May 3.