'Staggering 22.9% of children in the Foyle constituency live in poverty'

In Westminster, SDLP Leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood has called on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to take immediate action to address the alarming levels of child poverty in Derry, and to scrap the two-child limit to benefit payments.

Mr Eastwood said: “Recent statistics from Loughborough University reveal that a staggering 22.9% of children in the Foyle constituency live in poverty, with the Northern Ireland child poverty rate at 22%.

“This crisis demands immediate attention to arrest the suffering of vulnerable children in Derry.

Campaigners ‘gravely concerned’ about Northern Ireland child poverty

“In Northern Ireland, 62.7% of children in poverty reside in working families; after housing costs, 37% of children in lone-parent families in Northern Ireland find themselves in poverty. How can this be allowed to happen in 2023?

“As Stormont lies empty thanks to the selfish actions of the DUP, child poverty rates in Northern Ireland spiral out of control. In the absence of an Executive, the British government must take decisive action and alleviate children's suffering by scrapping the two-child limit to benefit payments.

"This action could potentially lift thousands of children out of poverty.

“I have signed an Early Day Motion at Westminster calling for scrapping the two-child limit to benefit payments and would urge the DUP to get back to work to help lift children here out of poverty."