A Birmingham vicar has urged people to get angry about child poverty after saying the rate in his Small Heath parish had hit 50 per cent.
Speaking at a poverty debate in Birmingham, Father Oliver Coss also told delegates he wished people would concern themselves more with these types of problems in society and less with celebrity tittle tattle.
Support services for children in poverty in Birmingham are costing the taxpayer nearly £1 billion a year but many of the headlines this week have focused on Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson's suspension following an altercation with one of the show's producers.
READ MORE: {}
The debate was held in the same week that hundreds of thousands of people signed rival petitions calling for Mr Clarkson to be either reinstated or sacked as the BBC show's host.
Father Coss said: "Child poverty is one of the great scandals of our time. In my patch, it stands at 36 per cent and in Highgate it stands at 50 per cent.
"But the greatest scandal is that nobody seems scandalised by it and that is profoundly troubling in a week where everyone else is talking about Jeremy Clarkson.
"Well frankly, I don't give a c**p about Jeremy Clarkson. I want people to be scandalised by child poverty, because it is a scandal."
He joined calls for the issue to be the number one priority for the city council and public authorities.
Most Read
The debate, organised by political blogger News In Brum and Birmingham City University, also heard from experts including Peter Alcock who was part of the Birmingham Child Poverty Commission.
He said: "Shortly after Labour came to power, Tony Blair pledged to eradicate child poverty in the 海角视频 by 2020 and halve it by 2010.
"There's no lack of political commitment from the last government at least to do something about it. Why is it that it still exists?
"I don't think the current government has much of a commitment to solving the problem of child poverty. I would like to see this changed."
But Bharat Chauhan added: "The most powerful agent is not the Government. It is each and every one of us.
"Poverty has been around forever but we have made a strong commitment as a society that 'every child matters' so how can we ensure that indeed every child does matter?"
News In Brum blogger Pauline Geoghegan said: "The reason we wanted a public debate is that you have to find solutions as a city.
"We need to get all agencies and all parts of the city working together. It's going to take a big change of direction."