![](\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.11\/thumbnail\/5beec0b1fc7e93707c8b45f6.JPG\")
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Austerity policies have inflicted \u201cgreat misery\u201d on the British people, the United Nations poverty envoy has found, following a fact-finding mission in the UK.<\/p>\n
Philip Alston, the UN\u2019s rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, slammed the \u201cpunitive, mean-spirited, and often callous\u201d<\/em> policies, undertaken as a \u201cpolitical choice\u201d r<\/em>ather than for economic necessity.<\/p>\n The damning 24-page report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alston\u2019s stunning declaration focused on Britain\u2019s rising level of child poverty, the\u00a0“Orwellian”\u00a0<\/em>Universal Credit scheme and the increasing reliance on food banks to feed Britain\u2019s hungry.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘This is shameful’: Tory austerity pushes 1.5 million below breadline, 3.7 million to food banks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n According to figures, noted by Alston, that were compiled by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; 14 million people \u2013 a fifth of the population \u2013 live in poverty, and 1.5 million are destitute, unable to afford basic life essentials.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is patently unjust and contrary to British values that so many people are living in poverty,\u201d<\/em> Alston said.<\/p>\n The UN rapporteur highlighted studies that warn of a seven-percent rise in child poverty between 2015 and 2022, potentially up to a rate of 40 percent.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Nikki Haley slams UN report on US poverty under Trump as ‘misleading & politically motivated’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Implemented by former British Prime Minister David Cameron and ex-Chancellor George Osborne, austerity policies were pitched as a necessity following the 2008 financial crisis. They have been continued by Theresa May\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n \u201cAusterity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so,\u201d<\/em> stated the human rights lawyer, who took aim at Chancellor Philip Hammond\u2019s decision to give a tax cut to the rich in last month\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n Alston, who visited London, Cardiff, Newcastle, Oxford, Belfast, and Glasgow during his two-week fact-finding mission, stated that Britain\u2019s rising poverty was \u201cobvious to anyone who opens their eyes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n During his mission, Alston met with then-Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey. The former television presenter, who resigned from her role over Brexit on Thursday, dismissed Universal Credit opponents as political saboteurs or ignorant of how the system works.<\/p>\n Flaws in the scheme have damaged claimants mental health, while benefit sanctions were labelled \u201charsh and arbitrary,\u201d<\/em> according to Alston, who warned that vulnerable claimants will \u201cstruggle to survive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n READ MORE: Streamlined Tory benefit scheme called slow, expensive & dangerous for claimants by watchdog<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On the issue of food banks, which an estimated half a million Britons rely on, he bemoaned that \u201ctheir mobilisation resembled the sort of activity you might expect for a natural disaster or health epidemic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The UK government is yet to officially respond to the report.<\/p>\n Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Subscribe<\/a> to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won\u2019t tell you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Austerity policies have inflicted \u201cgreat misery\u201d on the British people, the United Nations poverty envoy has found, following a fact-finding mission in the UK. Philip Alston, the UN\u2019s rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, slammed the \u201cpunitive, mean-spirited, and often callous\u201d policies, undertaken as a \u201cpolitical choice\u201d rather than for economic necessity. The damning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":385360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-385359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}