THE North East mayor is expected to announce new plans to combat child poverty – and insists she will not back down on a pledge to end the scourge.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands that Kim McGuinness is due to bring forward proposals in the coming weeks, following her election campaign pledge to eradicate child poverty that is blighting families across the region.

More than 118,000 children are living in poverty across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, according to recent research from the End Child Poverty Coalition.

The Labour mayor told the LDRS on Friday (August 23) that she understood that her promise might sound “unrealistic” but that she refused to set a less ambitious target and that tackling child poverty is her administration’s “number one priority”.

Her manifesto included plans for a new childcare grant to support parents getting back into work, reintroducing “Sure Start style” services, and funding for after-school clubs.

Ms McGuinness said: “I said unapologetically that I want to end child poverty. People will criticise and say that is ridiculous and unachievable, and there are elements where I understand that sounds unrealistic.

“But I will not set a target that still leaves a proportion of children in our region in poverty. We have to keep fighting every day to reduce that number by as much as we can and be honest about the scale of the problem.”

She added: “I have already talked about a mayor’s childcare grant to support people when they are moving back into the workplace, that is the sort of measure we can take locally that will make a difference and that we will be able to measure the impact of.”

More than a third of children in Newcastle, 33.8 per cent, are growing up in destitution – the highest rate in the region.

READ MORE: Child poverty in Northumberland ranked higher than the UK average

But the child poverty rate is more than a quarter in every council area other than North Tyneside, where it stands at 24.5 per cent.

The new Labour government has come under heavy pressure to lift the two-child benefit cap, which campaigners have warned affects around 19,000 North East families, but has so far refused to.

The policy prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children, which the North East Child Poverty Commission says can leave younger children missing out on up to £66 per week in support that their older siblings receive.

Ms McGuinness said she wanted the cap to be lifted, but blamed the “incredibly difficult” state of the public finances for Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to do so yet.

She added: “We need to keep pushing the government to make the right decisions, but I acknowledge that the inheritance [from Rishi Sunak’s government] has been incredibly difficult. And we are still in early days, today is day 50 of the Labour government and there is a long way to go.

“But I don’t want to wait. I want to get going in this region and to deliver the commitment that I made as mayor to take this to the heart of everything we are doing.”

The former police and crime commissioner told the LDRS that she believed regional mayors could take significant action to bring down poverty rates, regardless of central government intervention on issues like the benefit cap.

She called for local leaders to be handed powers over job centres and back-to-work services as part of future devolution plans and said that the mayor has a “powerful” ability to unite councils, businesses, the NHS, housing bosses, and other key players to act jointly on ending poverty. 

Ms McGuinness said: “I have been really clear that child poverty is the number one priority. It is something we have to tackle as a region and that is everyone’s responsibility.

“We can’t stand by while a third of young people in this region grow up in poverty, particularly when we know that it affects their life chances. The start in life you have is directly linked to the future you are able to create.

“If we want to have a successful, thriving region then we need to make sure we are tackling child poverty and giving every single child who grows up here the best possible opportunity.”