Nearly 15 per cent of Frodsham children are living in poverty, according to new research from the End Child Poverty Coalition.

A study carried out by the campaign group before the Covid-19 pandemic truly took hold found that 213 Frodsham under-16s belonged to 'families on low income Before Housing Costs (BHC)' in 2019/20.

That equals 13.5 per cent of the town's child population, as compared to 11.1 per cent in 2014/15.

A family must have claimed Child Benefit and at least one other household benefit (Universal Credit, tax credits or Housing Benefit) at any point in the year to be classed as low income in these statistics.

Weaver Vale MP, Mike Amesbury, recently commented on the issue, saying: "It both breaks my heart and makes me angry because there is no excuse for this given we have the fifth biggest economy on the planet.

"Poverty holds people back in every aspect of life; from their physical and mental health, their education, career and earning potential, relationships, life expectancy and general quality of life.

"When someone does not have the opportunity to fulfil their potential it's sad for that person but also means we are not making the most of our pool of talent as a nation."

The End Child Poverty research showed that, nationwide, 30 per cent of UK children (4.3 million) were living below the breadline, with some other local council wards, including Halton Lea and Windmill Hill, Runcorn, also reaching this figure.

The proportion of Frodsham children living in poverty is just over half of the average for Weaver Vale, which sat at 24.2 per cent in 2019/20.

Meanwhile, the Helsby figure stands at just over one third of the constituency average, with 72, or 9.1 per cent of children being from 'low income' families.

This proportion has risen from 5 per cent in 2014/15.