Rudd condemns the UN for ‘politicising’ poverty report
AMBER RUDD has accused the United Nations of making a political attack on the Government after an envoy published a damning report into the scale of poverty in the UK.
The new Work and Pensions Secretary said comments made by Prof Philip Alston, the UN’S special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, were “wholly inappropriate”.
Ms Rudd criticised Prof Alston for the “extraordinary political nature of his language” after he took aim at benefit cuts and said 14million people in the UK were living in poverty.
He claimed universal credit waiting times had “plunged people into misery and despair” and that levels of destitution could be “obviated very easily” if the Government was more generous.
Prof Alston said ministers were “pretty much unconcerned” by the situation and failed to understand the scale of suffering across the nation.
Ms Rudd, making her first appearance at the despatch box in the House of Commons since being re-appointed to the Cabinet amid Brexit turmoil last week, said Prof Alston’s comments had “discredited” his report.
She said: “I have seen the report by the rapporteur, I read it over the weekend, and I must say I was disappointed to say the least by the extraordinary political nature of his language.
“We are not so proud that we don’t think we can learn as we try to adjust universal credit for the benefit of everybody. But that sort of language was wholly inappropriate.”
Prof Alston said the introduction of universal credit, the Government’s flagship welfare reform which combines a handful of benefits into one payment, had caused extreme hardship which could easily be reversed by ministers. His report, published last week, came after a 12-day, nine-city trip to the UK.