Changes to the welfare benefit system will plunge more children into poverty, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow Rushanara Ali has warned.
Speaking during a Parliamentary debate on the benefit system last week, Ms Ali said that a Bill capping increases in benefit payments at one per cent – below the rate of inflation – would worsen the problems facing her constituents.
“My constituency has the highest level of child poverty, and this Bill will lead to more poverty across cities such as London and around the country”, added the former member of the London Child Poverty Commission.
Labour claims that 60 per cent of those affected by the changes would be working families, and that 7,000 working families in Bethnal Green and Bow will be hit with a real-term cut to the amount they receive in tax credits.
An estimated 58 per cent of children in Tower Hamlets are brought up in poverty – the highest rate of any UK local authority.
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