Children being allowed to starve in this country is an absolute disgrace - Yorkshire Post Letters
I refer to Victoria Finan’s report (The YP, November 30) of a group of parents from York campaigning to have the child benefit restored to all children. I support them totally. It is an absolute disgrace that a developed country has over four million children who, at best are ill-nourished and, at worst, starving.
Child benefits were introduced by the Labour Government in 1947/48 and it was then called ‘family allowance’. It was introduced not only as a welfare benefit but also to encourage families to have more children. It was recognised that after the two devastating world wars the country was heading into difficulty by not having enough adults to work in our industries and public services.
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Hide AdThe first-born child did not then qualify for family allowance. I recall attending a meeting of the Child Poverty Action Group in the early 1960s with guest speaker former Labour Member of Parliament Frank Field. They were campaigning for the allowance to be extended to first-borns as, obviously, they cost more with the provision of cots, prams, clothing and other equipment. It was the Labour Government, later in the 1960s, which legislated for family allowance to be paid for all children.


We are now informed that the birth rate has fallen to an average of 1.46 children per household. This is a serious situation as soon there will not be enough adults to work in our public services especially the NHS and care services for older people.
It is going to take the new Labour Government some time to find the money to reverse the cuts to services made by the Conservatives especially to local councils. But our children have to be our priority.
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