We are in a residential area just outside Whitehaven city center, northwest of England. Row after row of gray brick houses, built for miners in earlier times, bears the mark of low maintenance. Many of them are municipal housing.
In a garden, toys are strewn with some old scrap metal. On a gate is a sign that warns against entering. We do it anyway. There is a knock on the door, but he who lives there asks us to go.
We have more luck in the next street.
Warning at front door in poor area in Whitehaven, Cumbria
Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKPhoto: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRK
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Must make an impossible choice
– It is a good area to live in. But many lack work, says Gareth Harker.
He is standing in the doorway while the dog is airing in the front yard. A skull adorns the front door. He too has left messages for any visitors:
“Stay away.”
“If you are reading this, make sure you get out of the garden.”
But Gareth is the kindness itself. He invites us in, both in the garden and in the house. And tells about his difficult life.
– If you had to use the social security to pay all the bills that come, then you would be hungry and could not do anything.
Gareth Harker is one of the few who wants to talk to NRK about how difficult it is to live as a poor person.
Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKPhoto: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRK
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He talks about himself in the third person.
– Do you have to make that choice, we ask. Choosing between food and bills?
– Ay, yeah. That’s a double yes.
Great child poverty
Gareth Harker is not alone in having a difficult time in this part of the UK. Here the differences are huge between those who have and those who do not. Those who have education and good jobs earn well. This means that the statistics do not stand out nationally. But it is pockets that Gareth lives in that people lack most.
– They lose hope, says Emma Williamson.
She is a local politician for Labor, and works to combat child poverty in the area.
One in four children lives below the poverty line in western Cumbria, which is the county here. In the poorest residential areas, every second child is poor.
– What are we – the sixth richest country in the world? And we have these poverty levels? People turn off the heat and freeze. They have no food. It should not be necessary to have to choose between being warm and eating, she says.
Local politician Emma Williamson is working to reduce child poverty in the north of England.
Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKPhoto: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRK
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This month, the British government cuts the social security of almost 6 million Britons. It affects 3.5 million children, calculations show. Many of those who receive such support are people with jobs and income. Still, they struggle to afford the most common things.
– It is heartbreaking that people can not afford shoes of the right size in a modern society. It is terrible that the government does not understand that when they remove a subsidy equivalent to 240 kroner a week, they remove a lifeline.
The pandemic hurts worse
The pandemic has not improved the situation, neither for the youngest nor for their parents.
When society closed down, school work had to be done from home.
A boy who was embarrassed that he did not have his own PC, was even more ashamed that they did not have internet at home. So when the school gave him a PC, he said nothing. Instead, he took the computer with him to his grandmother’s house, because she had internet. However, due to the risk of infection, was not allowed to visit her. So he was sitting on a bench outside her house doing his schoolwork.
Child poverty is high in West Cumbria. Every fourth child lives below the poverty line.
Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKPhoto: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRK
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On Wednesday, the government will present its state budget. Increased costs after the pandemic will be covered. An increase in the social security contribution has already been announced.
In addition, inflation is high in the UK. Groceries and other things become more expensive for consumers. Electricity and gas prices skyrocket due to competition for gas and little wind. The bills are getting higher and higher.
Increasing differences
– The gap between those who have and those who have not has become larger, says Willy Slavin.
He leads an organization that tries to fight child poverty in West Cumbria. The former principal sees a clear change in the living conditions of children in the area.
– It is now children who are starving. That was not the case when I was headmaster here.
Now many also risk freezing through the winter.
– Families who cannot afford food can now not afford heating either. The situation is very, very difficult, he concludes.
Willie Slavin, West Cumbria Child Poverty Forum
Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKPhoto: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRK
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Gareth Harker can confirm that.
– If I had not had my parents, I would have run out of money in a week.
The father lives in the house next door, the mother a little further down in the same neighborhood.
But they can afford to help you, we ask.
– Yes, if not …, he answers and shrugs before adding: But the most important thing is that he gets food.
He points to his dog looking back at him from the gate in the garden. Then Gareth walks away and lifts him up and gives him a long, good hug.
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