• CHARLES Dickens spent a great deal of time in Camden on his walks around London.

He wrote Oliver Twist over 150 years ago, but he would still recognise the stories of hunger and poverty that we hear on many doorsteps in West Hampstead.

In Camden we have some of the poorest communities and some of the highest rates of child poverty in the country.

The cost of living in the United Kingdom is set to rise substantially this week as the price of gas more than doubles and a number of local households will be confronted daily with the painful decision of heating or eating.

The queues at food banks across Camden grow ever longer and some families are already struggling to earn enough to be able to pay bills and feed their children.

The chancellor’s spring budget confirms that this Conservative government is not levelling up but instead trampling over those in most need.

I spent the first five years of my life in a house that was unfit to live in and have personal experience of my mum having to choose between heating and eating.

Can we tolerate that Camden children are facing the same poor beginnings half a century later?

The Tory government cuts in benefits and increases in tax and National Insurance are eating away at people’s incomes at the same time as we are facing the biggest increases in the cost of living for 30 years.

Camden’s funding from government for each resident fell from £1,123 per person in 2010 to £367 today. Their promise to do whatever it takes to get communities through the pandemic has been broken leaving Camden with a £19million black hole.

Despite this Camden continues to help families like mine, and stands up for them.

How? By providing a £2million cost of living fund for those hit hardest by the pandemic and funding a council tax support scheme to provide discounts for low-income households.

Camden is taking action to support its residents and alleviate hardship. It is committed to protecting essential services so that our community is not left behind and can, indeed, thrive.

SHARON HARDWICK
Labour Candidate for West Hampstead ward