Oldham MP demands action on high levels of poverty in town

Debbie Abrahams, who has held the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat since 2011, said that the issue also needs to be addressed in communities across the country.

It comes after the publication of a report from the Department for Work and Pensions, which showed an increase of 600,000 households in absolute poverty last year as well as a rise in destitution.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee, which the Labour MP sits on, published another report recently which assessed the suitability of social security support in the UK. The report recommended that a framework be developed by the government on the subject.

It also recommended that the Household Support Fund should be made permanent – it provides funding to councils for spending on measures to support the most vulnerable.

It called for the government to introduce an ‘uprating guarantee’ to ensure that social security levels are always consistent with the rate of inflation.

Debbie Abrahams has held the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat since 2011 (Image: PA)

The demands come as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that child poverty in Oldham is nearly the highest in the country, just behind 46 percent in Birmingham and 45 percent in Sandwell and Manchester.

Mrs Abrahams said: “The Households Below Average Income report highlights that even the government’s own data show a surge in poverty.

“This is the direct result of fourteen years of real term cuts to social security under austerity, which has left us with one of the least adequate provisions in the western world.

“It is a damning indictment of a twenty-first century, civilised society that so many people cannot afford the essentials, because of the inadequate support from the government’s social security support."

She added: “That is why I am reiterating my calls for an essentials guarantee - that means everyone in Oldham, Saddleworth and across the country can afford the essentials, which is simply the bare minimum.”