Activist Army. Parliament returns – call for change

Brexit negotiations are due to begin this week.

We still don’t know if the clamour for more cross-party involvement and a softer EU exit will have any effect. Or if Theresa May, with her wafer-thin majority, will dig in for a harder goodbye.

One thing is certain – no matter what the outcome, the voice of the poorest in society will not be the loudest at the table.

We must push them to keep poverty prevention top of their agenda

Which is why our poverty-dismantling manifesto and John Bird’s call for a Poverty Prevention Unit in Parliament remains urgent and essential.

As MPs, old and new, listen to the Queen’s Speech and learn the programme for government for the period ahead (however long it lasts), we must push them to keep poverty prevention top of their agenda.

Throughout the election a huge volume of politicians – from party leaders down – pledged to do so. This is no time to forget.

Preventing people from falling into poverty – creating a fence at the top of the cliff – will save billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money each year. From health to prisons, unemployment to welfare, the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff has a vast human and financial cost; as much as £78bn a year.

But if poverty prevention is at the heart of public policy in every key department – education and housing, communities and crime, health and social security – the payoffs down the line to society will be massive.

So we want to grow our Activist Army and have you lobby every MP in the UK to make the creation of a Poverty Prevention Unit a top priority.

Here’s how:

Step 1. Identify your MP. Look them up at writetothem.com

Step 2. Phone, email or write explaining why a Poverty Prevention Unit is necessary.

Step 3. Keep the pressure on. Follow-up. Demand a response to your inquiry. They are your voice in the UK Parliament, and if you believe prevention is better than cure, make sure they know it.