“ U.K. Austerity policy has inflicted great misery” says UN

And this one is for you, EllanVannin:

The author, Paul Krugman, has a Nobel Prize for economics so I think he knows what he is talking about

www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/apr/29/the-austerity-delusion

Debt does matter (although not in the same way as a domestic budget) but if austerity was seen to be the cure and a necessity, the single-minded targeting of the already poor for this "cure" is sickening - the fat cats laugh all the way to the bank.

Our political leaders have no concept of what real poverty is and the long-term consequences of childhood deprivation. They live their cosseted lives whilst dictating to the poor of our nation how they should live, and implying that they are all work-shy scroungers.

Just the very idea that there are families having to rely on food banks is a total disgrace. And as for the rough sleepers.....

Well baggs I read the report so would find it extremely helpful if you could point out all the trickery and dishonesty in it with page references linking the relevant sections in the report to the evidence of where it’s wrong so I can put myself right. It would also be helpful to know the qualifications and political background of the person/s who have so carefully analysed this report. TIA

I agree luckygirl. Nearly half our children living in poverty is tragic for those families involved, but is also storing up terrible problems for society in the future.
Family breakdown, long term debt, disruptive behaviour in schools, drug and alcohol addiction, anti-social behaviour, vandalism, knife crime, pressure on the criminal justice system and prisons are a likely future result of child poverty.

The whole of society will pay for this both in monetary cost but also in creating “no go” areas in villages, towns and cities across the country.

We all want to live in a peaceful society where we can walk safely through the streets and don’t have to barricade ourselves behind security gates and high walls.

It is truly shameful that an ouside body should issue this report, and the shame falls firmly on the shoulders of the Conservative government from Osborne onwards. I am appalled by those on here who still cling to the myth of it all being the fault of the previous Labour administration, and as for those of you who are outraged that the UN should 'interfere' well, shame on you. This is how people like Trump with their claims of false news get away with it. I am not a supporter of Corbyn, but the majority of well regarded and respected economists repeat that austerity does not work.

Hear, hear, GillT57

Sadly, though, 'belief' trumps evidence every time...

I agree Beau. Each time we've had a Labour,spend spend spend to keep people on side government, there's been an unholy mess when the next government has stepped in to try and claw back wasted finances then end up being the bad guys .
What do we do when we overspend ? We do without certain things to recoup our loss.It's the same with the government but on a massive scale. Can't please everyone !
Lack of foresight with the immigration process has created further hardship no thanks to Labour who loathe anything to do with British heritage anyway.The last Labour government were determined to change the face of this country by handing out work permits visas and passports ( British ) like raffle tickets .

Is it any wonder that 70% of votes from migrants go to Labour ?

At the same time TM has done nothing to reverse this. When Amber Rudd was Home secretary she too did nothing to alleviate the constant influx which she must have known/realised that resources would have been stretched to the limits in all areas.

What have they ALL been doing ??

Each time we've had a Labour,spend spend spend to keep people on side government, there's been an unholy mess

It's not true. It's tory propaganda, it's lies and you fall for it. Did you even bother to read the stuff I posted?

thanks to Labour who loathe anything to do with British heritage anyway

Can't you see what a daft statement this is? How insulting to millions of Labour voters who are as happily British as any tory...

The Conservatives like to maintain the pretence that Labour left huge debts.
It’s a fallacy that they feed to gullible voters.
Debt levels were steady under Labour, but started to rise after the global recession (2009). Debt then rose hugely under the Tories from £1 Trillion in 2010 to £1.75 trillion in 2018.
But some people don’t want to understand this.

But government borrowing is at its highest level ever, and this is a Tory government.

Sorry didn’t see your post mostlyharmless

I see you are saying exactly the same but backing it up with facts and figures.

Thanks to MaizeD, Gill57, mostly harmless and others who continue to attempt to challenge this nonsense that the Labour government is responsible for the austerity agenda.

I accept all the criticism the Blair Government in relation to the disastrous invasion of Iraq. However, as someone who was working with children and families, in very deprived areas in the late 90's early 2000's, I look back with a sense of relief and pride at the positive changes that government made for those communities.

As for suggesting Labour spent money to 'keep people on side' nope, they didn't. The government invested hugely in education, health and preventive social work services. Sure Start and other Family Centres did great work with vulnerable families. The government put money in to areas that had been grossly neglected by years of Tory neglect. If we ever get a Labour government again, that's what will have to happen again. The number of preventive and support services slashed and destroyed by the current lot is shocking.

meliza, This is one of the extracts that made me wonder about the honesty of the UN report.

It's a short listen, just over one and a half minutes.

One of the places he visited was the countries largest food bank in Newcastle . Hardly surprising at all.

We should hang our heads in shame .

We should indeed gillybob.

Being homeless must be just awful.
“one in every 200 Britons is either sleeping rough or living in temporary accommodation, such as hostels and B&Bs” according to official figures.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46289259

Just found this Twitter thread with info about poverty in the UK. The producer of these tweets says the UN is relying on anecdote rather than facts.

I think it's a damned cheek the UN reporting on our country and I don't believe most if it

He visited the biggest foodbank in the country which happens to be in Newcastle Beau. I wonder if the poor people forced to use this facility (or starve) would think he had a damned cheek?

Apologies for repeating myself.

Hmm. There's that Institute of Economic Affairs connection again. The author of the tweets blogs for them. The last thing you posted, Baggs also originated with them

I wonder why the IEA wants to play down this report? Can it be that they are a far right libertarian 'think tank' who want to shrink state intervention (to nothing if possible) So it's completely in their interests to try to minimise the problem to prevent demands for more state intervention.

Their funding is curiously opaque but they have strong connections with the US and those companies who are are hovering ready to pounce as the UK government releases more public services for privatisation.

I also find their focus, on trying to prove that the UN report exaggerates, a bit disingenuous because, by my reading of the report it states at the start the current level of relative poverty, with no mention of historic rates, and quotes the IFS prediction that child poverty will rise by 7% to 2022. After that, the report just describes what the rapporteur found.

Universal credit has just been rolled out in my local area.
The local branch of the Salvation Army says:

This week we have seen an unprecedented number of folk coming to us in complete desperation due to the chaos that is Universal Credit. We are struggling to meet demand practically .. and equally wearing is witnessing the level of desperation and fear that these people are presenting with.

Those who suffered the most from Tory austerity measures were very likely to feel so aggrieved that when given the opportunity to register a protest, they did so, even though their plight was nothing to do with our membership of the EU.

Research by the University of Warwick has found that the UK government’s austerity measures since 2010 may in fact have tipped the brexit vote, boosting Leave support by as much as ten percentage points.

theconversation.com/brexit-austerity-tipped-balance-towards-leave-new-study-suggests-100685

The roll out of universal credit certainly seems not to have worked very well and I think pushing to speed up its roll out was, in the circumstances, a monumentally bad idea. Despite that, the principle it is based on could still be sound.

I think it's useful to have more than one opinion on any subject. That's why I looked at the link I posted. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the UN report and the graphs in that link.

maiz, if the IEA's funding is opaque how can you know that it is linked to US organisations?

Linking to other organisations has nothing to do with funding, Baggs

Here is an article which shows the IEA's connections:

www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Institute_of_Economic_Affairs

This organisation ranks the 'transparency' of the funding of various think tanks. Note the IEA (among others) is in the 'most opaque' band

whofundsyou.org/

I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the UN report and the graphs in that link.

The truth of what?

Have you read the report, Baggs? They are not 'claiming' what the IEA are saying they are. They are looking at the situation experienced now by people in poverty in the UK. I would be prepared to give some credence to critics who could show that what the report says about the experiences of this group, and the factors which exacerbate their experience, is wildly wrong but arguing about the historical trends has nothing to do with what people are experiencing now.

In truth, given the historical data, the same report might have been written at any time in the past decade or two.