Cost of Living crisis

Ministers privately ruling out scrapping two-child benefits cap

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/22/ministers-privately-ruling-out-scrapping-two-child-benefits-cap

In a letter to Keir Starmer, Child Poverty Action Group estimated that the number of children in poverty would rise to 4.8 million by 2029 unless action was taken. Photograph: Adam Angelides/Getty Images

Sources says government is ‘not going to find a way’ to ditch cap despite predictions that child poverty levels will soar

Ministers are privately ruling out scrapping the two-child benefit cap despite warnings from charities that a failure to do so could result in the highest levels of child poverty since records began.

Government sources said charities and Labour MPs who were concerned that wider benefit cuts would push more families into poverty should “read the tea leaves” over Labour’s plans.

“If they still think we’re going to scrap the cap then they’re listening to the wrong people. We’re simply not going to find a way to do that. The cap is popular with key voters, who see it as a matter of fairness,” one source said.

In a letter to Keir Starmer on Tuesday, groups including Barnardo’s, Save the Children UK and Citizens Advice said scrapping the two-child benefit limit would be the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty.

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In their letter to Starmer, they said: “Scrapping the two-child limit is by far the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty. It would lift 350,000 children out of poverty overnight and result in 700,000 children living in less deep poverty.

“If it is not scrapped, the stark reality is that child poverty will be significantly higher at the end of this parliament than when the government took office, making this the first time a Labour government would leave such a legacy.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/22/ministers-privately-ruling-out-scrapping-two-child-benefits-cap

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.
Continue ReadingMinisters privately ruling out scrapping two-child benefits cap

NHS cancer patients denied life-saving drugs due to Brexit costs, report finds

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/20/nhs-cancer-patients-denied-life-saving-drugs-due-to-brexit-costs-report-finds

Brexit has ‘damaged the practical ability’ of doctors to offer NHS patients life-saving new drugs via international trials, according to the 54-page report. Photograph: Dmitrii Dikushin/Alamy

Guardian Exclusive: Britons found to have ‘lost out’ while rest of Europe benefits from golden age of research and treatments

British cancer patients are being denied life-saving drugs and trials of revolutionary treatments are being derailed by the red tape and extra costs brought on by Brexit, a leaked report warns.

Soaring numbers are being diagnosed with the disease amid a growing and ageing population, improved diagnosis initiatives and wider public awareness – making global collaborations to find new medicines essential.

But five years after the UK’s exit from the EU, the most comprehensive analysis of its kind concludes that while patients across Europe are benefiting from a golden age of pioneering research and novel treatments, Britons with cancer have “lost out” thanks to rising prices and red tape.

Brexit has “damaged the practical ability” of doctors to offer NHS patients life-saving new drugs via international clinical trials, according to the 54-page report obtained by the Guardian.

In some cases, the cost of importing new cancer drugs for Britons has nearly quadrupled as a result of post-Brexit red tape. Some trials have had shipping costs alone increase to 10 times since Brexit.

The extra rules and costs have had a “significant negative impact” on UK cancer research, creating “new barriers” that are “holding back life-saving research” for Britons, the report says.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/20/nhs-cancer-patients-denied-life-saving-drugs-due-to-brexit-costs-report-finds

Continue ReadingNHS cancer patients denied life-saving drugs due to Brexit costs, report finds

Raw sewage pumped into UK waterways for 4.7 million hours in 2024: ‘This will only get worse’

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https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/sewage-pollution-uk-waterways-sas-environment/

Sewage is only supposed to be discharged following extreme weather. Image: Jeff Buck (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Some 27% of English billpayers have considered withholding their bill payments due to water supplier failings, a survey shows.

The public don’t believe private companies can fix the worsening sewage crisis, a report has found – and at least a quarter are considering boycotting water bill payments. 

Water bills will surge by an average of £31 per year over the next five years. 

Suppliers have justified the increase – which will bring the average annual bill to £588 by the end of the decade – as the only way to fund fixes to Britain’s crumbling sewage infrastructure.

But according to a blistering new Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) report, just a third (33%) of English adults believe that their supplier will take the necessary action to end sewage pollution.

And around a quarter (27%) have considered withholding their bill payments due to the actions of their water supplier. 

This disillusionment is little surprise. Pollution is surging: Water companies in England have collectively failed their targets to reduce pollution incidents, SAS’s 2024 Water Quality Report shows, with 2,487 incidents recorded in 2024. 

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That’s more than double the target set by the Environment Agency – and it’s the tip of the iceberg. In 2024 alone, raw sewage was released into UK waterways 592,478 times, for a combined 4.7 million hours. That’s the equivalent of 535 years’ worth of waste, pouring into the lakes and rivers people swim in, kayak through and drink from.

Article continues at https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/sewage-pollution-uk-waterways-sas-environment/

April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
Continue ReadingRaw sewage pumped into UK waterways for 4.7 million hours in 2024: ‘This will only get worse’

Pensioner with severe learning disabilities could face eviction over care costs dispute

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/21/pensioner-severe-learning-disabilities-face-eviction-care-costs-dispute

Hugh Kirsch, 66, with his sister Oona Herzberg. Hundreds of contract disputes have erupted between cash-strapped councils and financially struggling care providers. Photograph: Oona Kirsch

Hugh Kirsch’s case one of wave of evictions of vulnerable residents caused by crisis in adult social care funding

A pensioner with severe learning disabilities who was a victim of one of the most notorious care home abuse scandals of recent years has been told he faces eviction over a dispute about who pays for the costs of his state-funded care.

The family of Hugh Kirsch, 66, said they had been warned he would have to leave his supported home because the council that funds his care refused to increase fees in line with costs and his care provider could no longer afford to subsidise the price.

The case is one of a growing wave of evictions of vulnerable residents caused by the crisis in adult social care funding in which hundreds of contract disputes erupt between cash-strapped councils and financially struggling care providers.

Kirsch’s sister Oona Herzberg said he was “trapped in the crosshairs of funding issues that have nothing to do with him”, and urged his funder, Haringey council, to fulfil its responsibilities to meet his care needs.

She told the Guardian: “It would be cruel and inhuman to evict Hughie. He would be traumatised after what he has been though, and so would we. He would be totally bewildered and upset, and would withdraw inside himself.”

Kirsch, who is non-verbal and needs one-to-one care, survived a regime of abuse at his previous residential home, run by the National Autistic Society, in which he and fellow residents were repeatedly taunted, bullied and humiliated by a “gang of controlling male staff”.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/21/pensioner-severe-learning-disabilities-face-eviction-care-costs-dispute

Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Continue ReadingPensioner with severe learning disabilities could face eviction over care costs dispute

‘The whole policy is wrong’: rebellion among Labour MPs grows over £5bn benefits cut

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/20/the-whole-policy-is-wrong-rebellion-among-labour-mps-grows-over-5bn-benefits-cut

‘We are being asked to take a leap of faith. It does not make sense’: Neil Duncan-Jordan, Labour MP for Poole. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian

Dozens of MPs are angry at their party, despite frantic efforts by whips and government ministers to assuage them

Labour MPs opposed to the government’s massive £5bn of benefit cuts say they will refuse to support legislation to implement them, even if more money is offered by ministers to alleviate child poverty in an attempt to win them over.

Legislation will be introduced to the House of Commons in early June to allow the cuts to come into force. They will include tightening the criteria for personal independence payments (Pip) for people with disabilities, to limit the number of people who can claim it. Under the changes, people who are not able to wash the lower half of their body, for example, will no longer be able to claim Pip unless they have another limiting condition.

A major rebellion appears to be hardening on the Labour benches rather than subsiding, despite frantic efforts by whips and government ministers to talk MPs round.

One idea being floated as a way to win over rebels is for ministers to publish their long-awaited child poverty strategy shortly before the key Commons votes, and in it offer additional money for poor parents of children under five. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is understood to be examining a proposal focused on the youngest children that would cost less than the £3.6bn needed to scrap entirely the controversial two-child limit on benefit payments. It is now accepted in government that, given the state of public finances, the cap cannot be scrapped in the short term.

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/20/the-whole-policy-is-wrong-rebellion-among-labour-mps-grows-over-5bn-benefits-cut

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Angela Rayner wears her "benefits in kind" donation from multi-millionaire Lord Alli.
Angela Rayner wears her “benefits in kind” donation from multi-millionaire Lord Alli.
Continue Reading‘The whole policy is wrong’: rebellion among Labour MPs grows over £5bn benefits cut