Child poverty ranked high in city

Millions of children in the UK are living on or below the poverty line

An area of Bradford has one of the worst child poverty problems in the UK, according to a report.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty report said 75% of children in the Bradford West constituency were living in or close to poverty.

It ranked eighth out of 174 constituencies, with the Ladywood area of Birmingham coming top at 81%.

The campaign classes households as being in poverty if they are living on under £10 per person per day.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 130 organisations including Barnardo's, Unicef and the NSPCC.

A lot of thinking needs to be done on how best to address the problems but unfortunately it can't be remedied over nightCPS Councillor Arshad Hussain

Arshad Hussain, Conservative councillor for Toller in Bradford West, said the figures were shocking.

"It is very disappointing to hear so many families in this area are struggling and certainly this issue needs to be looked at," he said.

"A lot of thinking needs to be done on how best to address the problems but unfortunately it can't be remedied over night. Long-term and realistic measures need to be looked at."

It is the first time the number of children in struggling families has been calculated, the charity said.

Campaign chairman Martin Narey said: "Pockets of our country are in turmoil.

"These figures show us that there are millions more children than originally thought being failed by the system."

The government has said it is committed to the cause, helping people to apply for family credit and also helping provide nursery school places.

At last week's Labour Party conference, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said child poverty "demeans Britain" and repeated his party's pledge to halve child poverty by 2010, and ultimately to end it.