It is difficult to express how hard it is to live in child poverty – I should know, I grew up in it on a council estate in Birmingham (Photo credit: Getty)

The Brexit debate has consumed British politics for the last three years, completely overshadowing the growing crises domestically in areas like education, the NHS, or homelessness. As Brexiteers bang on about needing to ‘take back control’, fierce internationalist Remainers shout ‘stop Brexit’ daily outside Parliament.

Relentlessly, we are reminded of the 17.4million people who voted to leave and how we must honour them and their decision. Yet, amidst it all, the interests of 4.5million of the most vulnerable people in our country have been drowned out.

They did not vote Leave, they could not vote in 2017 and they cannot vote in a second referendum, nor can they vote in the next general election. Who are they? They are the nation’s 4.5million children living in poverty who, after Operation Yellowhammer, can no longer be ignored.



Reading the report, my heart fell into my stomach at the final line: ‘low income groups will be disproportionately affected by any price rises in food and fuel’.


It is difficult to express how hard it is to live in child poverty – I should know, I grew up in it on a council estate in Birmingham.

There are certain memories that stand out to me on how hard things could be – like my mum asking my brother and I to try and find pennies down the back of the sofa to buy a loaf of bread.

Or being in a supermarket with my mum and a trolley full of the bare essentials – all own brand – and watching her face fall as she counted her money and realised it was not enough.

I remember watching my mum cry, surrounded by debt letters with threats of bailiffs, as she tried to keep a roof over our heads.

There are reports of children eating toilet paper they are so hungry, and children without beds or clothing

It was why as soon as I read Operation Yellowhammer I looked desperately for more details or some sort of explanation – anything – but there was nothing. Just ‘lower income groups’ would be ‘disproportionately affected’.

At present, there are already 4.5million children in our country living in circumstances like I did – or far worse. There are reports of children eating toilet paper they are so hungry, and children without beds or clothing.

With the absence of free-school meals over the summer holidays, a scheme which was often a lifeline for my family, food banks began to run bare.

This year, the UN compared Conservative welfare policies to the creation of workhouses and there are now ten constituencies with child poverty figures over of 50 per cent. Generations of children are being made homeless at a time when a homeless person dies every 19 hours.

Boris Johnson said he’d ‘rather be dead in a ditch’ than ask for an extension (Photo: AP)

So, with all of this, a Yellowhamer scenario would be completely and utterly unbearable for those who are vulnerable – potentially even lethal.

Yet, despite this, and despite the fact that poverty is at its worst levels since 1988, Brexiteers are regularly treating this like it’s a game.

In Parliament, we saw Conservative MPs laugh as opposition MPs debated Brexit and how to stop a catastrophic no-deal scenario.

We saw Jacob Rees-Mogg lounging around the chamber, nonchalant, as if he were back at the Oxford Union. As Boris Johnson said he’d ‘rather be dead in a ditch’ than ask for an extension.



For these men, Brexit is a competition or a game – meanwhile, the lives of 4.5million children hang in the balance.

For them this is not about politics, power, or political prestige – this is about survival. This is about having enough food, clothing, or a place to call home.

So, after Yellowhammer, this is not just about the 17.4million anymore, it’s about the 4.5million, too.