Responding to this year’s poverty report from the Joeseph Rowntree Foundation, which says that it is now 20 years and six prime ministers since there was a sustained fall in poverty, co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer, said: 

“This latest report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation makes for grim reading. Over one in five people in the UK were living in poverty in 2021/22. That’s almost 14 and a half million people, with over eight million working-age adults and over four million children.  

“For years, successive UK governments have allowed poverty to become entrenched and for inequality to widen. The super-rich have seen their incomes soar during a time of increased hardship for millions of people.  

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Poverty is a political choice. 

“There are things that can be done quickly to address the sickening levels of poverty in our society. For example, the Green Party would increase Universal Credit by £40 per week and abolish the two-child benefit cap. A wealth tax on the super-rich, along with tax reforms such as changes to Capital Gains Tax and abolishing “non dom status,” could pay for these and other measures to reduce poverty.  

“As Labour finalises its manifesto, there’s little indication that they will make the right political choices to help the millions enduring grinding poverty. Which is why we so desperately need a group of Green MPs in parliament after the next general election to put pressure on Labour to do the right thing.”