Stacey Solomon says benefits 'saved my life' in emotional cost of living discussion

Stacey Solomon has discussed how important the benefits system was to keeping her afloat after the birth of her first child.

The 32-year-old star said on Friday's episode of Loose Women that state support "saved my life" when she became a single mum as a teenager, prior to her rise to fame on The X Factor.

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Solomon told her fellow panellists that she received a Sure Start grant when her first son was born in 2008, as well as tokens to buy baby milk.

She said: "I was given a Sure Start Grant, which is what it was called at the time, and I can't tell you how much that saved my life. My working tax credits saved our lives, we could not have got by without those."

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Speaking about the current cost of living crisis affecting families in the UK, Solomon said many of the support systems she relied upon have been "abolished".

She added: "Some of my friends who are in similar circumstances now, don't even have those opportunities. They're completely taken away from people.

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"And then they turn around and go 'oh look, we're in a cost of living crisis, let's roll out £400'. It's too little, too late."

Solomon's comments came about in a discussion about Rishi Sunak's announcement that the previously mooted £200 repayable energy loan to every household would become a £400 grant.

Solomon now has four children, including two with fiancé Joe Swash, and she also serves as stepmum to Swash's son from a previous relationship.

She rose to fame as a contestant on The X Factor in 2009 and won the 10th series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here a year later.

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Solomon joined the Loose Women panel in 2016 as a guest contributor and subsequently became a regular face on the daytime talk show.

She recently presented Bake Off: The Professionals and has confessed to suffering crippling nerves and anxiety ahead of filming.

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