The English indices of deprivation 2015 were recently published by the government.

Newham is no longer on the list of the top 20 authorities that have the most deprived areas. Newham has leapt up the rankings to 25 for the extent of deprivation we face, this is a massive improvement from 2010 when the borough was second.

The borough has gone from having 31 per cent of its neighbourhoods being highly deprived in 2010 to 8pc. It has also moved up the rankings from being second in the average amount of poverty it has to eighth.

The government’s statistics are based around income, employment, health, disability, crime and living standards.

Whilst this data is a snapshot based on information gathered over the 2012-13 financial year, it confirms the council has made considerable strides to tackling the deep-rooted inequalities in the borough despite an unprecedented reduction to our funding.

This is why our approach is based on tackling the root causes of deprivation such as poor housing which is associated with a variety of health conditions, poor educational attainment, training and skills because we believe this is the way out of poverty.

Forty pc of our residents live in the private rented sector, where spiralling rents are driving people into squalor and destitution. Our Private Rented Sector Licensing Scheme is reducing the number of unsafe and insecure houses,

Initiatives such as Workplace, our employment service, which has supported almost 30,000 people into work, is vital in ensuring our residents can access opportunities. We support young people through our Reading Guarantee and our universal free school meals.

We know the challenge we face is tremendous, but we will continue to defend our residents from these unfair and savage government cuts so that our residents have the tools they need to overcome challenges and achieve their aspirations. More from Sir Robin