Gateshead councillors have decried the nation's financial hardship as a form of "genocide" following a report into problems faced by the most vulnerable in the town.
In an emotional meeting, councillors discovered on Monday that an average of 650 people a day are phoning Gateshead Council seeking some kind of financial help, almost 30% of children are growing up in low-income families or families with an income of £15,000 or less, with 7,500 children receiving free school meals.
The shocking report detailed the extreme hardship that thousands of people in the borough are facing.
