Supporting families and feeding children in Lancashire isn’t a luxury. This pandemic has wreaked havoc on our regional and local economies and the effects have been felt harder here than in most places: infection rates have been higher over a longer period of time, resulting in additional restrictions, and the North West’s biggest sectors – retail and manufacturing – have been disproportionately hit by this pandemic.

As Blackburn’s representative in Parliament, I’ve always done my best by families in Lancashire. I was pleased to work cross-party with Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, when he joined Labour MPs and council leaders to put pressure on the Government when it promised additional businesses support to Lancashire for being in Tier 3 in October.

Making sure children don’t go hungry, that they have good access to quality education – even through this pandemic – and that we do everything in our power to help families stay afloat, should be a priority for all of us too. There is scope to work cross-party across Lancashire on these issues too.

Labour put forward a motion last week to stop the Government’s planned cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit in April to give certainty to the six millions families for whom it is worth an extra £1,000 a year. We also put forward a second motion, that the Government do more to support children on free school meals by ensuring they receive the full value of the meals after Chartwell’s – one of the private firms responsible for packing and delivering food parcels – were found to have sent a £30 food parcel to one family containing just £5.22 worth of food.

This was alongside our call for greater support for pupils learning from home. Ofcom estimates that pupils needed between 1.1 to 1.8 million digital devices, yet ten months into this pandemic just over 700,000 have been handed out. 139,000 of those came in this month, so they’re only just reaching pupils. That’s not good enough and the Government should commit to a time frame when pupils that are still waiting for laptops and iPads to study can expect to receive them.

Unfortunately, the Government told its MPs to abstain, but I’m sure there is common ground. We all want to see children succeed and families to thrive. My plea to Conservative MPs is this: work with us. Let’s make sure that the education of children in Lancashire doesn’t suffer. Let’s make sure the safety net is sufficient to support families during this pandemic. Spending so much time at home has pushed up the cost of a weekly shop and increased gas and electricity bills.

In Blackburn alone there are over 4,100 pupils eligible for Free School Meals. The council has done its best, handing out 7,841 meals during the summer holidays, over 1,500 in the October holidays and more since, but it cannot do it alone without government support. This is on top of the 47,295 meals they handed out between 2017 and 2019, working in partnership with Wesley Hall Methodist Church and other partners.

Likewise, in my constituency there are now 14,643 people across 11,451 households on Universal Credit. We are not alone either. All across Lancashire families are struggling. And it’s important to remember that Universal Credit is not solely an unemployment benefit. Many of those in receipt of Universal Credit are in work but on wages so low that they do not cover household living costs.

As we look ahead to the rollout of the vaccination programme and beyond, to our economic recovery, Lancashire’s best hope is by giving people the tools now they need to succeed. Let’s get pupils their laptops, families the support they need, businesses the ability to stay afloat.