Why Marcus Rashford is my new hero in child poverty fight – Yorkshire Post Letters

I WOULD like to thank you for your recent coverage of new analysis by the End Child Poverty Coalition, showing that child poverty is indeed an enduring issue, and an issue which in urgent need of fresh government intervention (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, October 17).

This is very personal to me, as someone from a working class background and a lifelong resident of the Bradford West constituency, which has long languished in comparison to the rest of England, with a high rate of child poverty, a high poverty risk rate and a high rate of unemployment.

This of course poses particular challenges when looking at how the city may recover from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation finding that Bradford is among the places most at risk of a surge in unemployment and poverty in the aftermath of the pandemic.

When these facts are considered together, alongside the similarly alarming fact that Bradford is one of the country’s most consistent social mobility coldspots, this paints a bleak picture for the city’s young people.

Child poverty and longer-term deprivation are not issues which are unique to Bradford – even within the Yorkshire region – with Hull also being adversely affected by chronic socio-economic disadvantage.

There now needs to be a concerted effort to raise awareness about child poverty, reaching beyond politics and into the media and civil society. Looking across the Pennines, the best example of this in action is Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, who is now perhaps just as well-known for his food poverty campaigning as he is for his football.

Thinking back to the start of the pandemic, there was a refreshing solidarity between our communities, replacing the acrimony and division which had come before. For those of us who spend our time dreaming of a better society, this was seen as a golden opportunity, but I, for one, now see it as a missed opportunity, for now.

We cannot just expect our communities to pull all the weight, though. Policymakers and politicians at all levels must show as much courage in raising awareness and challenging moralistic narratives as the rest of us. If Rashford, like all other ‘‘radical’’ social organiser(s) throughout history, has shown us anything, it is that one person can make a change; furthermore, when people stand united behind a person or cause, they can be unstoppable.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson

Editor