CHILD poverty levels in Bradford are among the highest in the country, according to figures out today.

And in 19 of the district's 30 council wards, the rate is higher than the national average of 25 per cent - with Bowling and Barkerend coming in top where 45 per cent of children are living in poverty.

Bradford Moor and Little Horton are also in the five wards with the highest levels of child deprivation.

All three areas fall within David Ward's Bradford East constituency, which has an overall child poverty rate of 39 per cent and is 20th highest in the UK.

Yesterday, he said the figures were not surprising.

He said national measures such as lowering the tax threshold and free school meals had helped, but the government needed to know there was more to be done.

"Unemployment is coming down quite substantially, but is still at a very high level. We do know there are 1,000 people fewer unemployed then there was a year ago [in Bradford East], but it's not just about unemployment, it's about low incomes as well," he said.

Last week Mr Ward (Lib Dem) attacked his party's record on poverty, saying life was increasingly desperate for poor people.

He thinks Bradford East is particularly hard hit because the cost of living is cheap, attracting immigrants who were looking for work.

"I believe that the country as a whole nation has benefitted from immigration and there's evidence to that effect," he said.

But he said those benefits needed to be used to provide areas such as Bradford East with more support.

Bradford West's child poverty levels are also at 39 per cent, making it the 17th worst nationally.

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford West, said the figures were "appalling".

"It reinforces the urgent need for the government to recognise the problem that Bradford not only but above all is suffering. This is the direct product of unemployment, under-employment and low wages. It is going to be made worse by the £25 billion George Osborne is proposing to cut from welfare.

"Child poverty is a scourge that threatens to blight the education and the life prospects of the children who are our future."

He said the government must increase support for poor families and children and an investment strategy was needed to produce jobs and higher pay.

Councillor Debbie Davies, the Conservative's spokesman for children's issues on Bradford Council, said she was always sceptical of statistics, but acknowledged there was a problem.

"But saying that I'd always say the government are trying to do things about this like, for example, the two-year olds nursery offer for people who haven't got much money and the healthy start vouchers," she said.

She said more practical support, such as teaching parents to cook rather than use takeaways, would also help.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council Jeanette Sunderland said efforts to regenerate Bradford and attract more higher paid jobs, such as those in technology, needed to be doubled and people needed the tools to help themselves.

"I don't believe the state can get people out of poverty by just giving them more money," she said.

The figures were compiled using tax credit data and national trends in worklessness by The Campaign to End Child Poverty.