MPs get special Evening Standard edition on poverty campaign

A special edition of the Evening Standard was today handed to MPs as part of The Dispossessed campaign on poverty in the capital.

The 16-page issue brought together the reports and detailed analysis featured during our five-day series on the plight of London's forgotten poor. The supplement includes a "call to arms" by Prince William.

Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig said in a letter to MPs today: "The response from our readers was unprecedented. Thousands came forward to say they would not tolerate this degradation, many offering money and help. Our campaign is not over. It is an issue to which we will keep returning.

"We challenged leaders of all three main political parties to set out their plans to tackle poverty. So far, we say very clearly that they have not done or said enough." Copies have gone to all 650 MPs and leading opinion formers.

Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "I think the Standard campaign has been really powerful." Justine Greening, Conservative shadow minister for London and Putney MP, said: "I see these problems every week in my surgery." The Dispossessed reports revealed babies still being buried in paupers' graves and children in the East End with Third World malnutrition.