A TEACHER and councillor is urging people to support the No Child Left Behind campaign as it is a cause close to her heart.

Louise Atkinson, a Carlisle teacher and city councillor for the Cathedral and Castle ward has backed a petition to end child food poverty - she knows the issue first hand having spent time homeless as a child.

Councillor Atkinson said that she has also seen children coming to school hungry.

“It effects children in every way but it particularly effects education.”

She said: “It effects physical health and mental health, it’s something I’m very passionate about, I myself grew up in poverty.

“This has been an issue pre-Covid but what it’s done is shone a light on it.”

Councillor Atkinson is junior vice president of the National Education Union which has this week launched the No Child Left Behind campaign, urging the Government to “take action” and commit to a “cohesive child poverty strategy” beyond the pandemic.

A petition launched to see expanded access to free school meals and activities during holidays has reached 1,113,879 signatures and will be debated in Parliament on Monday.

In the Carlisle constituency, 4,469 children are living in poverty, 28 per cent of the children living in Carlisle. In the Workington Constituency - 3,764 children are trapped in poverty.

Carlisle City councillor for Denton Holme and Morton South Lisa Brown volunteers with the Carlisle Community Help affordable food hub.

Lisa and fellow councillor-volunteer Karen Lockney are trying to combat food poverty with a network of hubs across the city. The service offered free food parcels in support of Carlisle Foodbank and operated as a Covid support group at the beginning of the pandemic but the mission has changed.

Users can now pay a small fee to access the food their living situation requires from the network of hubs, giving them agency and the support they need.

Speaking of the campaign to stop children going hungry, Lisa said: “It’s massively important, the thing that worries me the most is it always has been.

“It was highlighted in the Covid-19 pandemic but I really worry if people can still keep up that fight once things get back to normal.