NURSES voted yesterday to push the government “to invest in our young people and end child health inequalities,” as it was revealed that the number of children living in poverty has grown by 1.5 million since 1965.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) deputy president Rod Thompson called on the government to reverse cuts to child health.

Speaking at the union’s annual conference, he said: “You (ministers) do not understand the evidence base of children in poverty.

“Therefore, reverse the policy, reverse all of these issues which are attacking the fundamental evidence that, if we want healthy children, if we want a healthy population, we must invest in our people and in our parents.”

The union said that reports had noticed the low importance given to children’s health in the NHS.

Salford delegate Cat Forsyth said there were only 15 school nurses for 32,000 children in her city, with just one full-time and one part-time nurse for children with disabilities.

“This is not even just adequate,” she told the conference. “This government needs to address commissioning of nurses for our children.”

Labour leadership candidate Yvette Cooper said resurgent child poverty was a “damning indictment” of Tory cuts to health services.

She has promised to revive Labour’s previous flagship policy of eradicating child poverty within a generation — after both the Conservatives and Ed Miliband shied away from pinning this down to a concrete timetable.

Ms Cooper told the Star: “Their policies have delivered the biggest increase in child poverty for a generation, and they have abandoned any pretence of even moving towards the target they promised to meet.

“Holding back so many of our children will limit our economy, divide our communities, store up social problems for the future and cost us all more later on.

Child Poverty Action Group head Alison Garnham says there is a wealth of evidence to link low-income households with worse health outcomes for children.

She warned that front-line services like the NHS and education will be put under even greater strain due to cuts to children’s health services.