More people need to wake up to the reality of child poverty on our own doorsteps.

This is the verdict of a Kent MP after a survey revealed millions of families in the UK are living on the bread line.

Data released by the Campaign to End Child Poverty shows almost 50 per cent of children from some Kent boroughs are in or are close to poverty.

Thanet holds the top spot for the most children in difficulty, with 48 per cent in both the North and South constituencies.

Sevenoaks has the smallest proportion of children in poverty, just 24 per cent.

South Thanet Labour MP and former transport minster Dr Steve Ladyman said one major problem was that most people are interested in tax breaks for people on high incomes, rather than those helping families struggling to survive.

He said: “This may sound harsh but the Government is committed to reducing child poverty - I’m not sure the rest of the population is.

“Whenever we are debating tax in this country, the issues that get the best responses are those aimed at middle and high income families.

“Remember all the fuss last year about inheritance tax? That only affected about 300,000 people but everyone went on about it as if it was the worst possible tax.”

The figures from the campaign use tax credit and unemployment data to give a percentage of children on low incomes in local authorities and constituencies across the UK.

Nationally, around 5.5million youngsters are in low-income families.

Dr Ladyman said the main cause of poverty in his area was unemployment, and that many children were suffering at home.

“These children will often have very poor diets, their homes will not be very well heated. Some parents have to choose a school just based on its uniform policy, because if it’s a big expenditure, the child can’t go.”

“This is not the sort of poverty you see in the third world but I think a lot of people think that is the only sort of poverty there is.

“But there are people living in our own communities in different circumstances who really are struggling to survive.”

The Government has a target of halving the number of children living in poverty by 2010, and eradicating the problem completely by 2020.