Wes Streeting fights to lift children out of “Victorian poverty”.

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Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting grew up on a council estate and says the Tories have failed to address the inequalities that put children in a worse position

Wes Streeting has vowed to fight to lift children out of “Victorian poverty”.

The shadow health secretary, who grew up on a council estate, said Boris Johnson and those around him “don’t know what life is like for most people”.

Last week Mr Streeting, 39, told schoolchildren in his Ilford North constituency how a poor childhood in Stepney, east London, had fueled his desire to be an MP.

He says children in his patch are growing up in worse conditions than he was in the 1980s.

“We had council housing, these kids are pushed from pillar to pillar in shelters,” he said.

Blaming the Tories for failing to address the inequalities children face, Mr Streeting said when children grow up poor, hungry and unhealthy, they suffer later in life.

Figures from NHS England show 350,000 children were waiting for pediatric care in April, up from 82,000 since last June.

He said data suggesting poorer children are smaller showed they experience “Victorian poverty, which leads to Victorian outcomes in terms of basic things like their height”.

Mr Streeting also ripped into the prime minister for refusing to extend the right to free school meals and vowing to make tackling child poverty a Labor Party priority.