We’d like to welcome new contributor, Wendy Varley, onto the VentnorBlog team. Wendy, a freelance journalist who lives in Yafford, has been a reader of the blog for sometime. We look forward to hearing her views on some of the issues that affect the Island. Ed
It was sobering to hear on Isle of Wight Radio news yesterday that nearly half of children (47%) here on the Island are living in or on the brink of poverty, with children in Ventnor, Sandown, Freshwater and parts of Newport the most likely to be affected.
The Campaign to End Child Poverty has ranked parliamentary constituencies across the UK according to how many children are living in low income families.
These are classed as families where no-one works more than 16 hours a week, or the family receives the full amount of Working Tax Credit.
A closer look at the details on the BBC News Web site shows the Isle of Wight comes 207th out of 646 constituencies in the UK poverty rankings.
In the South East region, only seven constituencies have a higher proportion of children living in low income families.
London rally on Saturday
The Campaign to End Child Poverty is staging a rally in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday October 4, called Keep The Promise, which calls on Gordon Brown to keep the promise to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.
You can read more about this valuable campaign to improve children’s life chances by ending child poverty, by visiting their Web site.
