Jeremy Corbyn calls for end to 'poverty porn' TV shows like Benefits Street

Labour leader accuses programme makers of 'demonising' working class communities

Jeremy Corbyn has backed calls for television shows that stereotype people on benefits to be scrapped.

The Labour leader said “poverty porn” programmes should be banished to history and accused their makers of “demonising” working-class communities.

He was speaking at a screening of a documentary, titled Dispossession, which looks at the loss of social housing in recent years and the consequences of the UK’s housing crisis.

During a Q&A session, Mr Corbyn was asked by the documentary’s maker, Paul Sng, for his views on programmes such as Channel 4’s Benefits Street, which followed the lives of several residents of James Turner Street in Birmingham.

The programme was the subject of hundreds of complaints, with many people accusing the makers of demonising deprived communities.

Raising the issue during the event with Mr Corbyn in West London, Mr Sng told the Labour leader: “If TV programmes stereotyped people with disabilities or people of colour the way they do working-class people, it wouldn’t be allowed.

“So let’s make poverty porn history. Let’s do this.”

Mr Corbyn replied: “You’re absolutely right. And the demonisation of communities makes it easier for politicians to make decisions that are damaging to those communities.

“Look at the underfunding of Grenfell, look at the way in which the Grenfell Action Group were not listened to when they should have been.”

Mr Sng suggested the Labour leader should contact Ofcom, the media regulator, to urge them to put a stop to the programmes.

A Labour source confirmed that Mr Corbyn wanted to see “fewer” programmes like Benefits Street and said he continued to support activists campaigning against “poverty porn”.

His intervention comes days after a television programme sparked a fierce row about a mother who spent £2,000 on Christmas presents for her six children.

Claire Young, who receives benefit payments, appeared on ITV’s This Morning and said she had bought her children 66 presents – 11 each. Despite the fact she had been able to afford the gifts by saving £50 each week and not drinking or smoking, some viewers criticised the mother for spending her benefit money on presents for her children.

Appearing on the show, she said: “I don’t drink, I don’t go out every weekend, I don’t take drugs, I hardly buy myself anything. Everything we get is the children’s money.”

“There are parents out there who are on benefits and who go out and spend every weekend out. But I don’t, I spend every waking minute with my children.

“I don’t like being on benefits. If I could go to work right now I would do, but just because I’m on benefits does that mean your children don’t get a Christmas?”

Ms Young is unable to work because she suffers from ME and fibromyalgia and is cared for by her husband. Responding to the criticism, a number of other viewers pointed out that Ms Young should be free to spend her money how she chooses, and praised her for prioritising her children’s happiness.