Open Letter to Newcastle City Council:
No More Growing Up Poor
Urgent Action Required!
At Food & Solidarity, we are dedicated to improving the lives of families across Newcastle, Gateshead, and beyond, particularly in the West End, where child poverty is alarmingly high. In this open letter, we call on Councillors Kilgour, Storey, and other cabinet members to take immediate action to address child poverty, end unjust policies like NRPF and the Two-Child Benefit Cap, and meet with impacted families in our community. Read our full petition and demands for a fairer future for Newcastle’s children.
Towards an Organised Workplace, Community, and Household
Registered office: 120-124 Buckingham St, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dear Councillors Kilgour, Storey, and other cabinet members,
Food and Solidarity is a membership organisation that works to improve the material conditions of members, including through weekly food distribution and member support with issues such as housing or energy providers, for example. We have members in Newcastle, Gateshead and beyond, with a majority of the membership in Newcastle’s West End. As you will be aware, Newcastle has very high rates of child poverty, and this is particularly the case in certain wards within the West End. Action on child poverty will significantly improve the lives of our membership, and we are asking you to use your position to improve things for children and families in the city.
We attempted to deliver our petition on child poverty to you on Monday prior to the Cabinet meeting in order to discuss our demands. Unfortunately, after being told by a council official that they would ask you to come to speak to us, the police were called, and they asked us to leave the building. We were surprised at the reaction given that a) it was a public meeting b) our group was made up of families with children and c) there was no attempt to communicate with us as to why we were there prior to the police being called. Given that we were not permitted to deliver the petition to you in person, we are emailing our demands. Please see the video here.
The photo petition, signed by over 60% of our the households in our membership, demands that you publicly:
Advocate abolishing the situation whereby children are living under NRPF, which unfairly penalises migrant families
Advocate ending the Two-Child Benefit Cap, which unfairly penalises larger families.
Use your political platform to push Central Government on these issues.
Meet with Food and Solidarity families who are directly impacted by these policies.
Please respond by close of business on 23rd October with a date when you will meet with us.
You can find the full wording of our petition on our website: https://foodandsolidarity.org/n2cp
This letter has also been published online here, and shared on social media.
Kind regards,
F&S