The issue includes a call to Boris to increase child benefits for first time in 10 years.
The news brand launches a campaign across its print and online editions, aimed at increasing child benefits by £5, highlighting the fact that the child benefit allowance has remained static since 2010.
The campaign, dubbed “Give Me Five” is timed to hit just before the Government’s budget comes out next Wednesday, and warns that without change, current forecasts project that the number of UK children in poverty will rise to 5.2 million in the next two years.
The stories have all been produced by a combined team of online and print staff, including Anthony Bond, head of news for Mirror Online, who said: “Child poverty levels in the UK are soaring and could rise from 4.1 million to 5.2 million in the next two years. We are inundated by parents telling us about the difficulties they face on a day-to-day basis. It’s shocking that in a country as wealthy as ours parents are struggling to feed and clothe their children.
“Despite this, the Government is taking little action to help these families. We wanted to highlight the struggles of parents and put pressure on the Government to start making the eradication of child poverty a priority.”
Head of campaigns Jason Beattie added: “The Daily Mirror has a proud history of shining a light on injustice and inequality. We are also proud to be a campaigning newspaper that fights for a better life for our readers and millions of other people in this country.”
Content highlights include:
- Mum stuck in tiny ‘prison’ room with daughters, 9 and 6, “scared” to use the toilet
- Data journalism widget: How bad is child poverty where you live?
- A look inside Britain’s top three worst neighbourhoods for child poverty – Poplar and Limehouse; Bethnal Green and Bow; East Ham.
- Opinion piece from Sadiq Khan warning child poverty is set to get worse.
- Positive stories: interview with a teen who grew up in severe poverty but now has a place at Oxford; a profile piece on QPR defender Angel Rangel who’s devoted his spare time to helping children in need and volunteering for Food banks and homeless centres.
The campaign, working in conjunction with the Child Poverty Action Group, makes the following demands of the Government:
- Increase child benefit by £5 a week
- Remove the two-child limit – a law introduced in 2017, which punishes children in larger families and has pushed thousands of children in poverty
- Remove benefit cap, which strictly limits the total amount of benefits a family can receive to £442.31 a week in London and £384.62 a week outside of London
