CAMPAIGNERS calling for an end to child poverty are preparing to march through London.

Members from 120 organisations are assembling at the Government’s Millbank building, near Lambeth Bridge and will shortly be marching into Trafalgar Square.

The event, organised by the Campaign to End Child Poverty (CECP), is part of the Keep the Promise event, calling for the Government to tackle the problem.

The group says the 2009 Budget is the last chance the Government has to realistically meet its 2010 target to halve child poverty.

According to CECP, 3.9m British children are living in poverty, and the proportion of impoverished children has increased from one in 10 to one in three since 1998.

A CECP report published this week revealed that more than one in three children in Walthamstow and Leyton & Wanstead are in families who claim out of work benefits.

The figure for Chingford and Woodford Green is one in five.

CECP is calling for the Government to improve benefits and child tax credits and provide better housing.

A spokesman said: “2008 is a vital year for children in poverty.

"There is an urgent opportunity to ensure the Government keeps its promise to end child poverty.

“So over 120 children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others are working together as the Campaign to End Child Poverty to ensure that the unacceptably high levels of child poverty in the UK are reduced.

“The Government has made a promise to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. With your support, we can ensure that they keep this promise of a generation.”