'Remember London child poverty in Budget'

The London Child Poverty Commission today warned the Government not to forget about thousands of vulnerable children in any spending squeeze.

The body urged ministers to focus on the capital where high living costs made initiatives to tackle poverty less successful than elsewhere.

More than 600,000 children still live on or below the poverty line in London. The Commission warned that a failure to tackle the issue now would result in higher dependency on the state later on.

Nick Stanton, spokesman on children for pressure group London Councils, said: "While the latest figures show child poverty in London has reduced slightly, overall the number of children growing up in poverty remains unacceptably high.

"It is vital that we continue to focus our energies and resources on this fight — or else the capital's young people will be counting the costs for years to come."