Teesside MP reckons Chancellor will address poverty and how to tackle it
Rachel Reeves is delivering the Budget later
An MP in Teesside reckons the Chancellor will address tackling poverty but 'it is the details that matter'.
Rachel Reeves is set to deliver Labour's first Budget in 14 years later.
Andy McDonald is the MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East.
He says there is a 'ridiculous rate' of children in poverty in the town and 'far too often they are at the top of the wrong league tables.'
He added: "Poverty costs a fortune. You're not saving money by keeping people in poverty, you're actually making the cost to the public purse much, much worse in terms of the resources, the recourse that people have to have on other public agencies, so it's absolutely false economy to grind down people.
"We came into power the last time around under Tony Blair in 1997 and the major focus was child poverty and that Labour Government did it. They addressed and reduced child poverty massively. We have to got to show the same drive and focus.
"We have the most dreadful inheritance. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the situation they inherited was better than one that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have inherited. But we have to tell the truth about what's gone wrong and be bold about how to fix it and that means we have to take decision where they may be tough.
"My greatest bug bear is the unfairness of the funding formula for our public services in this locality. We have our local council trying to deal with some of the most difficult social outcomes, our police and even our fire service all try to deal with these issues and yet they get the wrong end of the stick.
"I've just conducted a survey of my constituency to ask people what are their priorities and the results will not surprise you; poverty, poor levels of income, cost of living crisis and fuel poverty. These are all the issues and of course the contentious issue around winter fuel allowance and the two-child cap. These are large and prevalent."