Poverty in Enfield. Shocking not surprising

Of all the London constituencies, Edmonton is the 6th worst for child poverty. 39.2% of children in Edmonton, that's 13,500 children, were living in poverty in 2015 according to researchers at the University of Loughborough. Edmonton is also the 19th worst nationally.

That this should be true in the world's sixth richest country is a scandal and a shame. We should be shocked. But we should not be surprised.

For seven years Tory chancellors backed by Tory MPs like David Burrowes and, previously, Nick de Bois, have preached the false gospel of austerity. This gospel demands sacrifices - but not from them. It is the young, the poor and the disabled who are to make the sacrifices as benefits and services have been cut and eligibility rules tightened. The consequence - the quite inevitable consequence - is increased poverty.

Well, you may say, that's Edmonton. We all know that Edmonton is poor. Other places are different, aren't they?

Well sort of.

In Enfield Southgate 25.5% of children are in poverty - that's 5,300. For Enfield North the figures are 33.6% and 9,900. So 29,000 Enfield children live in poverty.

Let's put the blame in the right places:

• On Tory chancellors who wrote the rules that create poverty.
• On Tory and LibDem MPs who backed them.
• On the city bankers who kept taking risks until the system crashed.
• On New Labour who weakened bank regulation thus allowing the bankers to take excessive risks.

With 29,000 poor children in Enfield alone there's ample blame to go round!