THE Echo’s Jack Monroe will be telling Barack Obama and David Cameron about global poverty and hunger at the G8 summit.

Reporter Jack, 25, has been invited by IF – a campaign group pushing world leaders to tackle poverty – as part of a project in which six bloggers will speak at the summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

Jack will attend the summit on June 17-18 and its fringe events, and will have the opportunity to question world leaders about global poverty and hunger issues.

Jack said: “I think it is a brilliant opportunity to meet with the eight leaders of the richest countries in the world and say – your system doesn’t work. Your poorest people are right on your doorstep, and you need to make some changes to stop children from freezing and starving in your wealthy and affluent countries.

“I will be challenging David Cameron on food banks, and pointing out that, while they are a lifeline for half a million people in the UK right now, the underpinning need has to be addressed.

“To paraphrase Desmond Tutu, there comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river, we need to go upstream, and find out who is pushing them in.”

Shane McCracken, who organised the project on behalf of IF, said: “The purpose is to get authentic voices into the summit to meet with the ministers and officials, and to ask questions of leaders.”

Before she joined the Echo, Jack was desperate for a solution to pay her rent and bills, so she put everything in her home up for sale and raised enough money to pay some of her debts and move to a smaller flat with a lower rent.

Following the sale, she started to write about the cheap meals that she and her son, Jonny, who is now three, were surviving on in her blog, A Girl Called Jack.

The blog has since attracted hundreds of thousands of views and earned her a book deal of frugal food recipes and tips with Penguin.

On Monday, Jack addressed a select committee at Parliament with a testimony about the realities of living in poverty and suggestions for changes, including paying housing benefit monthly instead of every four weeks and being paid a living wage.

Jack said: “If anyone had said to me a year ago that I would be addressing Parliament on the realities of poverty and the failings of the welfare state, I would have laughed.

“I’ve only just got my head around that, and now I’m off to the G8 summit to take my message there.”