Child poverty group's protest march

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The 'Keep the Promise' rally aims to remind the Government that it is in danger of missing its target of halving child poverty by 2010. Supporters will be urging Gordon Brown to get his promise back on track by investing an extra £3 billion in the 2009 budget.

Thousands of demonstrators are expected for the march from Trafalgar Square to Westminster in central London. It is organised by the Campaign to End Child Poverty, a coalition of more than 120 UK organisations concerned about high levels of child poverty,

Prime Minister Gordon Brown met some of the campaigners and assured them of his intention to introduce a legal duty on Government to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

Speaking in 10 Downing Street following the meeting, Mr Brown said: "Every generation has great causes and every generation will be remembered for what it has done and how it has changed the world - votes for women, votes for men before that, the creation of the NHS, education for all.

"One of the great causes of this generation is the eradication of child poverty and I am saying that we will in law make it the duty of Government by 2020 to eradicate child poverty in this country. While it is a long haul, we want to show step by step how we can achieve that goal.

"I believe all those people who are campaigning to end child poverty are doing so because they believe that every child is special, every child is precious, every child is unique, every child deserves the best start in life and you cannot write off any child. Every child deserves the support of this generation."

Research published this week by the campaign found that in 174 of 646 parliamentary constituencies across the UK, more than half the children live in poverty.

It suggested that pockets of the UK were in "turmoil" and millions more children than previously thought were being left behind. Of the 13,233,320 children in the UK, 5,559,000 - more than a third - live in low-income families or families in poverty.

The research was compiled from Government statistics and also includes the numbers of children in families on Working Families Tax Credit.