Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, is chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Tackling Poverty. Here, he responds to The Northern Echo and Church Action on Poverty’s special report on poverty in the region

THE Government strategy is all around making work pay. It’s about the National Living Wage, moving towards an actual Living Wage, and I fully support that. I campaigned on that before I came to Parliament because we need a fairer society and we need a fair deal for the north.

A fairer society means everybody gets a decent wage for a decent day’s work, so I am delighted to have talked to many ministers and I was delighted when the previous chancellor announced the move towards the National Living Wage.

That has had a profound effect on people on low incomes, and it means someone on the minimum wage is significantly better off. If you take account also of the higher tax thresholds, someone working full time on the National Living Wage takes home more than £3,800 a year more than in 2010. That’s the right way forward.

People at the bottom for income should pay less tax and earn a decent wage for a day’s work.

We now have around 900,000 fewer workless households in this country than in 2010 and that’s a tremendous change in terms of the impact on individuals and everybody else in their household.

That’s the right direction of travel, and income inequality is now at its lowest for 30 years and the top one per cent of earners are now paying a larger share of the tax burden than at any time in the last 30 years.

We are seeing a transfer from the wealthy to the less wealthy, which is as I believe it should be.

Universal Credit is also the right type of approach. It’s good that everybody is always better off working more. I’m supportive of the principles of Universal Credit.

I think the implementation of some of the rules around it did cause problems and did exacerbate the use of foodbanks.

I have been to food banks in Malton and Pickering and Northallerton and seen that first hand, and I have talked to people in Citizens Advice, food banks and Job Centres and there were definitely problems with the roll out of Universal Credit, but I was pleased to see the Treasury has made some fundamental changes, which should relieve some of those issues.

I DO not think there is a lack of ambition in the Government. Inevitably, our biggest domestic and international priority has to be a smooth exit from the EU, because that process has the potential to cause big difficulties, so it is understandably taking up most of the Prime Minister’s time.

I was a bit surprised by the recent social mobility commission resignations. Perhaps sometimes we are not getting there as fast as we would all like, but the direction of travel is right. We have to also recognise the impact the National Living Wage has had on the wider economy.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty is focusing at the moment on the cost of living and the costs of working and we hope to produce reports next year.

One thing the Government needs to do is more affordable housing but also businesses can do sensible things in terms of the poverty premium. It’s totally wrong that people in bottom income levels pay premium prices for energy, and supermarkets often do ‘three for two’ deals, which is great if you can afford two but not if you can’t.

Businesses can also do more to help their own workforces and we would like to gather ideas and build a toolkit for employers of ways they can alleviate poverty, such as more flexible working, help with travel, or hardship funds.

It’s not just about looking to Government, and it’s important we get people’s own voices heard, and do not just deliver solutions we feel will work, but that will work on the ground. It’s absolutely right that communities get involved.