Strong Start vow for children

A vow to give every child born in the Upper Bann area £500 has been made by the SDLP's Dolores Kelly.
Dolores Kelly.Dolores Kelly.
Dolores Kelly.

The Upper Bann candidate pledged a ‘Strong Start’ for every child. She said: “The elimination of poverty is the single greatest challenge. Child poverty in NI sits at 23% and despite that, Sinn Féin and the DUP published their child poverty strategy two years late.

“The SDLP is committed to creating a new Strong Start fund. 59% of families in NI currently have no savings. That is unacceptable to us. Under our proposals, the first thing every child will receive after they’re born is an investment of £250 in their future. Parents can top that up whenever they can and at age 10, we’ll make another £250 investment.

“In Banbridge and Craigavon that means we’re committed to investing £730k in the future of our young people. And that’s just the start, we have an alternative to the past decade of failure. We’re committed to building a better future for everyone here.”