Tory reforms punitive and mean-spirited
United Nations report slams Universal Credit plan
THE Tories have inflicted misery on people with their “punitive and mean-spirited” welfare reforms, the United Nations said.
Its damning report said ministers were “in denial” about the impact of Universal Credit and spending cuts.
Philip Alston, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, made the conclusions after spending 12 days in the UK.
He said: “British compassion has been replaced by a punitive, meanspirited and often callous approach apparently designed to... impose a rigid order on the lives of those least capable of coping with today’s world.”
Mr Alston, from Australia, said policies and cuts were “entrenching high levels of poverty”. He said UC’s rollout used claimants “like guinea
pigs” and he had heard “countless stories of severe hardship” under it.
Yet, he said: “Ministers were almost entirely dismissive, blaming political opponents for wanting to sabotage their work, or suggesting the media didn’t really understand the system.”
Mr Alston said policies “inflicted great misery” on vulnerable groups in particular. He said: “For almost one in every two children to be poor in 21st century Britain is not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, rolled into one.”
The report added: “Government has remained in a state of denial.”
A Government spokesman said: “We completely disagree. With this Government’s changes, household incomes have never been higher, income inequality has fallen, the number of children in workless households is at a record low, there are a million fewer people in absolute poverty compared with 2010.
“We’re listening to feedback and made numerous improvements.”
Never, never, have I ever been SO over Christmas already. With the evil that is Brexit starting to drop its ugly load, that weary old phrase “peace on earth and goodwill to all” couldn’t be a more redundant sentiment. Never, never, ever have I hated the Tories more. Apart from a bunch of backbench, racist, Tory bigots, it wasn’t as if everyone was shouting Life Will Be Better Out of the EU from the rooftops. But David Cameron – so adroitly summed up as “a tw*t” by EastEnders’ actor Danny Dyer – clearly decided he had to make some sort of mark after a reign marked by austerity and poverty. So we’re left with a shambles of a Brexit and the rightful sneers of the rest of the EU. You can say Merry Christmas if you like. But what’s to celebrate?