Poor People Can’t Cook Says Lee Anderson MP – The poor side of life

Lee Anderson Tory MP for Ashfield claimed that households in Britain can make nutritious meals on a budget of about 30p a day. He made these crass remarks during the queens speech debate in parliam…

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So true and well said.

In every generalisation there is a ring of truth, but also untruth, as everyone is different so no one person is the same as another,

Within life there are so many factors which need to be taken into account, but no one, especially in a so called, developed, civilised society should be made to live below the ‘poverty line’ and then be criticised for doing so.

Unfortunately MPs of any party fail to understand, some more than others that peoples lives are different.

Where possible people should be allowed to make choices so the use of ‘mandatory’ should not be something to use and be seen as a good action as it is restricting the freedoms many fought to achieve. We are supposedly not living under a dictatorship, but the likes of Lee Anderson Tory MP appears to believe it is right to do so and sees no wrong in putting people in mandatory situations.

 

Source: Poor People Can’t Cook Says Lee Anderson MP – The poor side of life

The Government needs to step up to end hygiene poverty : Govt Newspeak

I agree poverty needs to be eradicated, and especially within the UK with it being the fifth richest country in the World.

However, The Guardian in September 2018 in the article ‘How unequal is Britain and are the poor getting poorer?’, stated ‘There is a sixfold difference between the income of the top 20% of households and those of the bottom 20%. Wealth inequality is much worse, with 44% of the UK’s wealth owned by just 10% of the population, five times the total wealth held by the poorest half.’, https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/sep/05/qa-how-unequal-is-britain-and-are-the-poor-getting-poorer

Then, an article in The Guardian December 2019, ‘Gap between rich and poor grows alongside rise in UK’s total wealth’, states ‘The different rates of growth documented by the ONS Wealth and Assets survey meant the top 10% finished 2018 with 45% of national wealth, while the poorest 10th held just 2%.’, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/dec/05/gap-between-rich-and-poor-grows-alongside-rise-in-uks-total-wealth.

So, rather than the gap becoming less, it is expanding.

The Conservative Governments over the last 11 years have done little or nothing to reduce the gap, in effect their meddling with the Welfare State system could well be one of the reasons it is expanding.

The Conservative Governments have together with The Media done their best to discriminate and create a feeling of disdain towards people in poverty. How many programmes are shown on TV on people improving their lives as opposed to persons on benefits where they are shown to be ab using the system.

This gives the population of the UK that everyone on benefits is claiming illegally,when they are, in fact in the minority, as on a percentage basis the degree of people abusing the Welfare State is way much lower than MPs fiddling their expenses.

While those in all areas abusing any system need to be stopped, no matter who they are, as people in need should not be discriminated against. It is also not just based on finance and poverty, for the way Social Care has been allowed to be substantially under-funded is criminal, but nothing is being done to remedy this, only empty promises. These promises have been around for many years, for in 2015 there was a plan to alter Social Care funding but Cameron and Osborne being the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively decided to put it on hold and deffer it to April 2020.

This, as we know as come and gone, possibly COVID-19 could be blamed, but is it really the reason. More promises are being made, in fact, Simon Stevens of NHS England said it needs to be resolved within the next 12 months, but as Social Care even got 12 months.

So, with Poverty and Social Care and other areas this Government is forcing people into situations from which they can not escape, unless the Government provides the means for them to do so.

Some will say, some people have brought it on themselves and that may be so for some, but for the majority it will be because of forces outwith their control.

The Government is supposed to be there for everyone, not just the top 10 or 20%.

Marcus Rashford and other black athletes have run out of patience and are forcing change | Derek Bardowell | Opinion | The Guardian

Black British sportspeople are seizing the moment to speak out about racism and poverty, says author Derek Bardowell

Source: Marcus Rashford and other black athletes have run out of patience and are forcing change | Derek Bardowell | Opinion | The Guardian

Digital divide ‘isolates and endangers’ millions of UK’s poorest | Technology | The Guardian

Charities warn of ‘devastating effect’ as most vulnerable households left without access to web

Source: Digital divide ‘isolates and endangers’ millions of UK’s poorest | Technology | The Guardian

How Trump’s proposed benefits changes will create hardship for rural people with disabilities : The Conversation

Changes to the Social Security Disability Insurance program proposed in January by the Trump administration could make it harder for over 8 million Americans with disabilities to maintain federal benefits.

That’s particularly true for those in rural communities, where we have worked and studied for the past 35 years.

Changes to disability benefits

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Source: How Trump’s proposed benefits changes will create hardship for rural people with disabilities : The Conversation

‘Obscene’ 18-month delay for DWP complaints

This is disgraceful and should not be allowed to occur.

For a start the DWP, has should all Government departments, be more transparent and also honest and open. Unfortunately all this is someting outside the ‘norm’ for the Government and this also includes all Local Authorities and maybe those of Health.

For anyone to go to a complaints body takes some strength, as you are going against a large public body, which you are and will be again relying upon, will they hold the complaints against them and treat you are your relative worse than before.

Of course they will say they will not, but it has not been unknown in some authorities.

In some instances the complaints procedures themselves are ‘not fit for purpose.

That been said I do like that you can not refer until the complaint response letter has been issued, unlike going to the Ombudsman where their time period starts from when the complaint was initiated and there is a limit of 1 year. If that was so re this complaint then it would have been too late to go to the Independent Complaints body.

If certainly feel that the Ombudsman needs to change, could I say to Independent Case Examiner (ICE).

A fresh DWP confession about Universal Credit is horrific | The Canary

This new revelation shows a decade of DWP failure

Source: A fresh DWP confession about Universal Credit is horrific | The Canary

Poverty in the UK is violating human rights. So…What’s next?

The report has been created and issued,but the Government disputes its findings, but the finding tend to show that the views of the population are correct.

The Government needs to accept the report and put their own ‘house’ in order.

The Government is proceeding on a a denial, they wish to believe their own misguided views rather than those of an independent enquiry.

This goes to prove that this Government does not care for the population of the UK, but only care for themselves and their immediate friends.

Welfare shake-up ‘will double number of children in poverty’

The number of children in families that have a monthly deficit is set to double. 

Flagship welfare reforms will trigger a big increase in families unable to make ends meet, new analysis reveals. The number of children living in families that have a monthly deficit will double in some areas, because of the combined impact of universal credit, a two-child limit on some welfare payments and the benefits cap.

The research, produced for the children’s commissioner, found that a quarter of children in its sample would be hit by the measures. Almost half of low-income households examined were affected, losing on average £3,441 a year.

Charities and researchers are already warning of rising child poverty. Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, has been attempting to soften the government’s reforms, putting more money into universal credit, limiting the two-child policy and sanctioning fewer claimants.

However, the Policy in Practice consultancy found that the combined effects of the three welfare reforms still meant that 25% of children in its study were in low-income families who would be unable to make ends meet. Without the policies, only 13% would be in households spending more than their income. Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said: “The two-child cap penalises children who can’t choose their birth order or the number of siblings their parents are having. Putting children in a position where they are worse off through no fault of their own is morally wrong and risks damaging the life chances of already vulnerable children.”

Adam Corlett, senior economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said that welfare cuts announced four years ago kicked in only last month. “These cuts are the culmination of a significant retrenchment of support with children,” he said. “The result is more children living in poverty. Absolute child poverty rose last year, and we expect relative child poverty to rise in the years ahead.”

The new analysis looked at families receiving housing benefit and help with their council tax across 19 councils. It covered a sample of 128,119 households with 257,648 children, but the findings may not be representative of the country as a whole.

Philip Hammond plans world’s highest minimum wage | Society | The Guardian

Philip Hammond is seriously considering a major increase to the minimum wage as he seeks to secure a legacy of ending low pay, it has emerged.

Several sources familiar with the chancellor’s thinking told the Observer they believed he was pushing to look at the “ambitious end” of what would be possible without damaging Britain’s employment levels, suggesting he is contemplating going further than any developed nation.

A proposal under discussion would see the minimum wage pushed up to 66% of median earnings, meeting the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s definition of low pay. It would allow the chancellor to say he had set a course to end low pay in Britain. The chancellor held a meeting with Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), last week, and he is understood to be meeting other union leaders at a round table this week. One government source said: “The chancellor is very concerned about poverty and sees this as one avenue of tackling it.”

 

Source: Philip Hammond plans world’s highest minimum wage | Society | The Guardian