Truss said she would lower taxes not give ‘handouts’, but ally says future support is not off the table
A senior ally of Liz Truss has played down suggestions she ruled out more emergency support payments to help people struggling through the worsening cost of living crisis this winter.
Penny Mordaunt, who is backing the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, said Truss’s comments had been misinterpreted and she wanted to prioritise tax cuts.
Continue reading...Austerity-era policies meant poverty among larger families in poverty rose at significantly faster rate, says thinktank
Benefit cuts imposed by the Conservatives since 2010 pushed up child poverty before the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report warning that poorer families are also among the most exposed to the cost of living crisis.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said relative child poverty rose to the highest level since 2007 immediately before Covid-19 hit, as the incomes of poorer families with children fell further behind due to austerity.
Continue reading...Almost two-fifths of children in north-east live in poverty after a decade of decline as campaigners warn of worse to come
The north-east of England has the highest rate of child poverty of anywhere in the UK, for the first time overtaking London as the nation’s hotspot for hardship and deprivation, new analysis shows.
Although the latest UK-wide figures show child poverty rates overall fell slightly in the first year of the pandemic due to the temporary £20 weekly uplift to universal credit, detailed breakdown shows child poverty continued to rise in areas like Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough.
Continue reading...George Westren’s op-art drawings went viral on social media after a neighbour saved them from the tip – now they might get an exhibition of their own
For a short time last week, the entire works of artist George Westren were sat in a skip, heading for the rubbish dump. A few hours later, however, and they were going viral on social media, with people across the world marvelling at his technique and enquiring as to how they might buy some of the late artist’s work.
None of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for the actions of “nosy neighbour” Alan Warburton. Warburton had been left saddened during lockdown by the news that Westren, his shy upstairs neighbour of six years, had died alone in his flat. Last week, after hearing removal men emptying out the place, he was horrified to see hundreds of Westren’s drawings and paintings bagged up and headed for the tip.
Continue reading...Bold experiment uses sport to boost social mobility while bringing organised games to state schools
St Paul’s and Winchester are facing a new rivalry at fives – the handball game that for hundreds of years has largely been the preserve of the most rarified public schools.
Children at Stoke Newington school in Hackney, east London, are leading a new wave of state school rugby fives players who have started training to take on their privileged counterparts in matches that will reach across one of the UK’s most entrenched social divides.
Continue reading...Ukraine war, China lockdowns and Brexit help push up inflation, with products that rely on wheat worst hit
Food price rises in the UK could hit 15% this summer – the highest level in more than 20 years – with inflation lasting into the middle of next year, according to a report.
Meat, cereals, dairy, fruit and vegetables are likely to be the worst affected as the war in Ukraine combines with production lockdowns in China and export bans on key food stuffs such as palm oil from Indonesia and wheat from India, the grocery trade body IGD warns.
Continue reading...Analysis: in a botched upgrade the fruit and veg Healthy Start scheme turned away numerous eligible low-income families
As the cost of living crisis blew up in March, and millions faced “starve or freeze” choices, it emerged – with dismal timing – that the rollout of the government’s newly digitised Healthy Start fruit and veg voucher scheme for low-income mothers was in chaos.
About 550,000 mothers who are pregnant or who have children aged three or under are in theory eligible for the scheme, which is worth between £4.25 and £8.50 a week. Designed to ensure their kids get their five-a-day portions, milk or formula, it should have been a timely boost.
Continue reading...Figures shows 10% rise in FSM across England and school leaders say real child poverty level is even higher
Nearly one in three children in the north-east of England are receiving free school meals (FSM), according to figures that reveal a 10% rise across England, as school leaders say the real level of child poverty is even higher.
The figures released in the Department for Education (DfE) annual school census show that 22.5% of state school pupils are on FSM, up from 20.8% last year, reflecting the increasing number of households receiving universal credit and earning less than £7,400 a year after tax.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Report for Aberlour children’s charity reveals scale of school meal debt for first time
More than £1m is owed by families across Scotland who are unable to pay for their children’s school meals, new research has found.
The report for the Aberlour children’s charity, seen exclusively by the Guardian, reveals the scale of school meal debt for the first time, and details an “alarming” rise in hidden hunger among Scotland’s school pupils.
Continue reading...New chief inspector of constabulary says crimes of poverty should be ‘dealt with in the best way possible’
The cost of living crisis will trigger an increase in crime and officers should use their “discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute people who steal in order to eat, the new chief inspector of constabulary has said.
“The impact of poverty, and the impact of lack of opportunity for people, does lead to an increase in crime. There’s no two ways about that,” Andy Cooke said as inflation hit a 40-year high of 9%.
Every burglary victim should get a visit from the police.
Forces may be marked down by the inspectorate if they fail to do so.
The charging rate should more than treble, from the current 6% to at least 20%.
The criminal justice system is failing victims of rape.
Policing is still recovering from cuts inflicted by Conservative-led governments from 2010.
Continue reading...Fears system could crash entirely amid growing reports of people being made to leave by sponsors
Growing numbers of refugees are being made homeless, and in many cases destitute, after relationship breakdowns with their Homes for Ukraine hosts in the UK, community organisations have said.
Some predict the system could crash entirely after reports of Ukrainian refugees being asked to leave the homes of their sponsors with only one day’s notice, leaving them with no option but to be referred to local authorities as homeless or, if they can afford to, attempt to seek last-minute rented accommodation.
Continue reading...Charity calls for debt cancellations for poorest countries to counter ‘worst collapse into poverty and suffering in memory’
The rising price of food caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and increased energy costs could push a quarter of a billion more people into extreme poverty, Oxfam has warned.
The charity said these new challenges had piled on to the economic crises created by Covid, and called for urgent international action, including cancelling debt repayments for poorer countries.
Continue reading...Thousands take to the streets to call for the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa
While thousands of angry cries and anti-government slogans filled the streets of the Sri Lankan city Colombo on Saturday, Chanda Upul stood quietly nearby, desperately pushing his wares of soft drinks and bottled water on protesters. But in his heart he was chanting along with them.
Sri Lanka has descended into its worst financial crisis since independence, with food, fuel, medicine and electricity becoming increasingly scarce, and calls for the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa – frequently referred to as Gota – to step down. And 50-year-old Upul, who lives in a poor northern suburb of the city, is among those who have been pushed to the brink of survival.
Continue reading...Latest updates: PM admits households are facing ‘unquestionably tough times’, but says NI increase is right thing for the NHS
Keir Starmer says the national insurance rise is “the wrong tax at the wrong time”.
The Labour leader said:
People are really, really struggling to pay their bills. And this is just going to impact on them very, very hard.
There are lots of landlords who’ve got many, many properties and they are not going to be paying a penny more in tax. Their tenants, who are going out to work, are going to be paying more in tax.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says impact of conflict on food prices and hunger could be substantial
Rocketing global food prices as a result of the war in Ukraine could trigger riots from those going hungry in poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned food-producing countries against hoarding supplies and said it was vital to avoid a repeat of the Covid pandemic, when rich countries were able to secure for themselves the bulk of vaccines.
Continue reading...Basil Matsika hopes his joyful murals of Mbare’s music and sports stars will inspire others to look beyond the area’s poverty and crime
Street artist Basil Matsika paints murals of local musicians and daily life in the streets of Mbare, one of Zimbabwe’s oldest townships, in the capital Harare. With his brush and paint jar, he says he communicates deep sentiments of hope amid the overwhelming landscape of poverty.
While many see Mbare as a crime-ridden neighbourhood, Matsika, 40, chooses to see beauty in the grimy, patched walls of the Matapi flats, which have become his canvas for his giant murals.
Continue reading...In Lyari, a slum notorious for violence in Pakistan’s most populous city, Mehr Ghar offers young people a safe place to hang out and study – and, for many, an alternative path to gang life
Living in Lyari was like living on the frontlines of a war, says Nauroz Ghani, who grew up in the Karachi slum notorious for its bloody gang battles. So used to the constant gunfire, he says he would “become restless if a day passed by without hearing the sound of a firing”.
“My teenage years were lost to violence,” says Ghani, 24. “I had no interest in getting an education. Instead, I was attracted by their guns and activities.” He saw dead bodies on the street and one boy was killed in front of him. “All of us who lived during those days have such memories. We lived in terror, but it had become habitual.”
Continue reading...Homelessness report reveals health and discrimination issues as authors call for new national strategy
Leigh Jorey was pretty successful in his mid-30s. A panel beater by trade, he’d completed an apprenticeship, owned his own tow truck company, and worked at it hard. His success didn’t stop him becoming homeless. In fact, it may have contributed to the problem.
Under pressure, Jorey began to turn to less healthy ways of coping, which led him into a downward spiral.
Continue reading...Crushing poverty is forcing starving displaced people to make desperate choices
The temperature is dropping to below zero in western Afghanistan and Delaram Rahmati is struggling to find food for her eight children.
Since leaving the family home in the country’s Badghis province four years ago, the Rahmatis have been living in a mud hut with a plastic roof in one of Herat city’s slums. Drought made their village unliveable and the land unworkable. Like an estimated 3.5 million Afghans who have been forced to leave their homes, the Rahmatis now live in a neighbourhood for internally displaced people (IDP).
Continue reading...Group of 102 wealthy people say tax would help tackle gulf between rich and poor
More than 100 members of the global super-rich called on Wednesday for governments around the world to “tax us now” to help pay for the pandemic response and tackle the gulf between rich and poor.
The group of 102 millionaires and billionaires, including Disney heiress Abigail Disney, said the current tax system is rigged in their favour and needs to be rewritten to make taxation fairer for hard-working people and restore trust in politics.
Pay for the Health and Social Care Levy twice over every year – eliminating the need to raise national insurance on working people.
Cover the salaries of an additional 50,000 new nurses.
Pay for the permanent increase of universal credit.
Build 35,000 affordable houses and retrofit the UK’s draughtiest homes to reduce the cost of energy bills and help fight the climate crisis.
Continue reading...