Tyneside MP fights for 'level playing field' for North East families amid child poverty and health inequality crises

A longstanding Tyneside MP is "sick" of the inequalities that plague the North East - and wants the new Government to take steps to tackle the poverty that drives poor health.

A Tyneside MP said the new Government needs to work to ensure a "level playing field" and ensure that the poverty and poor health challenges people in our region experience are dealt with.

Emma Lewell Buck (Lab, South Shields) co-chairs the Child of the North All-Party Parliamentary Group and has campaigned extensively to highlight the connections between deprivation, ill-health and diminished life chances. A week ago, she spoke at the parliamentary launch of the recent Woman of the North report - which painted a devastating picture and said women in our region had been "failed".

Speaking to ChronicleLive, the MP - who has been in the Commons since 2013 - said that she was fed up of seeing our region left behind. She said: "All of this comes down to child poverty, and to women's and child health. If you speak to anyone who works in frontline health services and who is dealing with people who are chronically unwell, that's what you will hear.

"Health inequality comes from poverty. If you speak to anyone struggling with their mental health, often that stems from financial stress - and poverty. You can always track it back.

"All of these reports just keep showing that. I'm sick of the inequality that means because of where people are born, their lives are determined in ways which means they will live harder and unhealthier lives compared to other parts of this country such as London and the South. It is just not fair, and something that the new Government needs to get to grips with."

The North East has seen child poverty rates hit record highs in recent years. Figures from June showed 118,000 North East children were living in poverty.

Meanwhile early in September the Woman of the North report laid bare how women here "live shorter lives, with less of those years in good health" and "have fewer qualifications, worse mental health, are more likely to be an unpaid carer and more likely to suffer domestic violence or to end up in the criminal justice system" than their peers in areas without the deprivation faced in many of the North East's cities, towns and villages.

And even since then, researchers at Newcastle University published research showing how poverty for would-be mums during pregnancy led to dire health outcomes - including higher rates of poor mental health and even conditions like diabetes and obesity. Speaking about that report, the university's Professor Heslehurst cited how improving and reforming the healthy start scheme so more of those eligible receive the support offered would be a "quick win".

This is one of the issues MP Ms Lewell Buck has been most outspoken about. Last year she brought forward a Private Member's Bill which would have automatically enrolled those eligible onto the scheme - which offers pregnant women and young families in receipt of certain benefits with a prepaid card offering between £4.25 and £8.50 each week - up to £34 each month - to spend on groceries and essentials such as baby milk

The South Shields MP said that with a new Labour Government in place, this would remain a priority for her. She said: "I'm not letting that go. We are trying to set up a meeting with the health minister at the moment.

"I have always been clear - it's not going to solve everything overnight, but there are little things that are easy enough to do as quick fixes. They can make a big impact on people while we work to fix the big issues.

"We should be looking for these easy wins that will make a big difference to people's lives - and especially those of pregnant women and those with young families. I really do think there are things like this we can do."

Another example she referenced was the campaign for universal free school meals - but she warned that it being left to mayors around the country to bring in their own schemes could lead to a postcode lottery, and said it needed to be a universal offer.

She added: "It can't ber right that some areas can do that and not others. It creates a patchwork of provision. What we need is a level playing field across the country, for our children, for women and for men too. The route to tackling all of thse things always leads back to tackling poverty and inadequate nutrition."

This comes as another new report, produced by think-tank IPPR, has highlighted how Britain faces a "health crisis". The think-tank has produced a report highlighting the need for the country to move towards a "health creation" system, and this includes tackling inequality. The report shows how the North East has the highest rate of preventable death in the under-75s in the country.

Last week, new Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to be “tough on ill health, tough on the causes of ill health”. Speaking in the House of Commons in response to a question about the impact child poverty has on death rates for babies under one, he said his questioner was"absolutely right about the social determinants of ill health".

He added: "That is why I am genuinely excited that with the mission-driven approach that the Prime Minister has set out, we are already bringing together Whitehall departments, traditionally siloed, to work together on attacking those social determinants.

“And the real potential and the real game-changer is taking genuine cross-departmental working with also working alongside business, civil society and all of us as active citizens to mobilise the whole country in pursuit of that national mission. Tough on ill health, tough on the causes of ill health, as someone might have said.”

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