Rushanara Ali MP has warned that the Conservative-led Government’s Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill will increase child poverty across London, as she spoke in the House of Commons debate on the legislation.

As a former commissioner for the London Child Poverty Commission, Rushanara highlighted the stubbornly high level of child poverty in London and her constituency, which suffers the highest rate of child poverty in the UK.

With more than half of children already growing up in poverty in Bethnal Green and Bow, Rushanara told the House of Commons that things would only get worse as a result of the Conservative-led Government’s real terms cut to working age benefits.

She said: “My constituency has the highest level of child poverty, and this Bill will lead to more poverty across cities such as London and around the country.”

Prior to the Commons debate, the Child Poverty Action Group had labelled the Government’s policy as a ‘poverty-producing Bill’ and the Resolution Foundation found that 60% of all those affected by the Bill are working families.

The latest figures from HMRC show that nearly 7,000 working families across Bethnal Green and Bow will be hit by the real terms cuts to working-tax credits, while the Children's Society found that over 400,000 teachers, nurses and armed forces personnel across the country would also suffer as a result of the Bill.

The full Hansard transcript of the debate can be found here.