Singer Melanie Brown has urged British government to step up efforts to tackle poverty.

The former Spice Girl claimed some of the poorest people in society have been left feeling "abandoned".

"The Government have got to admit there's a massive problem here. We need to work together to change things," the Mirror quoted her as saying.

Brown was speaking out after spending a week on a run-down council estate in her native Leeds for an ITV documentary, '7 Days On The Breadline'.

The show saw Mel B looking after five kids, aged six, eight, 12, 16 and 18, on a budget of just 264 pounds a week.

"I did it to make a point and show that just because you're a celebrity, you can live on benefits. But even I was shocked by the scale of what I saw," she said.

Kids hanging around on street corners, open drug dealing and a culture of fear and intimidation were just a few of the problems Mel had to face.

She said: "The Government doesn't seem to be trying to find out how to help people in council estates.

"Give them a community centre or at least something for the kids to do to enrich their lives."

"The kids are bored and that always leads to trouble. Whether it's a library, somewhere to play basketball or take a computer course. Give them a sense of achievement. The kids just resorted to hanging about or wasting away watching TV. It was really sad," she added.

Source-ANI
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