… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: poverty

  • Wealth of British billionaires increased by £35m per day last year, Oxfam study finds

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/wealth-british-billionaires-increased-ps35m-day-last-year-oxfam-study-finds [20 Jan 2025]

    A view of £5, £10, £20 and £50 bank notes

    BRITISH billionaires’ wealth surged by £35 million a day last year, new research reveals, as the rest of the nation worries about energy bills.

    According to a report by Oxfam released today, the collective wealth of billionaires in Britain increased to a total of £182 billion in 2024.

    The amount would be enough to cover the whole of Manchester in £10 notes one and a half times, the charity said.

    The same report revealed that global billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion (£1.6bn) in 2024 — three times faster than the year before.

    Oxfam inequality policy lead Anna Marriott said that the world is on course for the emergence of at least five trillionaires within a decade.

    “The global economic system is broken, wholly unfit for purpose as it enables and perpetuates this explosion of riches while nearly half of humanity continues to live in poverty,” she said.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/wealth-british-billionaires-increased-ps35m-day-last-year-oxfam-study-finds [20 Jan 2025]

    Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy.
    Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy.
    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.

  • Reeves plans new cuts as economy sags

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/reeves-plans-new-cuts-economy-sags

    Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a meeting at Downing Street in London with regulators. She is expected to use the meeting to announce more detail on how the Government will cut the cost of regulation by a quarter and set out plans to slim down or abolish regulators themselves, March 17, 2025

    CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves is set to announce a huge new programme of spending cuts as unemployment rises and anger at Labour’s assault on disability benefits mounts.

    She will use her spring spending statement next week to unveil a fresh austerity programme as the government continues to rule out tax rises on the wealthy as an alternative.

    Despair is turning to anger among backbench Labour MPs and trade unions at the government’s course, which is already seeing Labour plunge to record lows in the opinion polls.

    Ms Reeves’s death-wish economics come as official statistics showed joblessness increasing, including among young workers.

    Unemployment is up by 0.1 per cent, with a youth unemployment rate of 12.9 per cent.

    Commenting on the figures, Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “The labour market figures today highlight the cruelty of the government’s reforms to disability benefits.

    “Unemployment is rising, and the wider measure of underemployment is now at 4.75 million with only 816,000 vacancies in the economy — meaning there are already nearly six people chasing every vacancy.

    “Those figures exclude disabled people currently deemed unable to work or with only limited capacity for work.

    “The reality is that the government’s proposals will not help disabled people off of benefits and into work, but off benefits and into deeper poverty.”

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/reeves-plans-new-cuts-economy-sags

    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
    Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
    Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.

  • Keir Starmer to unveil drastic disability benefit cuts despite opposition

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    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/17/keir-starmer-to-unveil-drastic-disability-benefit-cuts-despite-opposition

    The prime minister’s official spokesperson said there was a clear case ‘for fixing our broken social security system that’s holding our people back, and our country back’. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/Reuters

    Changes could deny benefits to people who need help to wash or to remember to go to the toilet

    Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.

    In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.

    The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.

    However, Downing Street has denied the plans to cut between £5bn and £6bn from the welfare bill were purely the result of the UK’s difficult fiscal situation, arguing there is a “moral and economic case” for reforming benefits.

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/17/keir-starmer-to-unveil-drastic-disability-benefit-cuts-despite-opposition

    Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.

  • Disabled people on PIP ‘will not cope’ if support is cut, charity warns

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/disabled-people-on-pip-will-not-cope-if-support-cut-charity-warns

    Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting, March 11, 2025

    ALMOST two-thirds of disabled people on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) “will not cope” without it, a charity has warned, amid reports that the government will reduce the benefit.

    Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to unveil reforms aimed at reducing welfare costs that ministers have described as “unsustainable.”

    Reports suggest that PIP, the main benefit for working-age adults both in and out of work, could be frozen rather than increased in line with inflation, delivering a real-terms cut for 3.6 million claimants.

    A new analysis from Sense has found that 38 per cent of PIP recipients with complex needs are already behind on energy bills.
    Almost half — 46 per cent — are struggling to afford essential costs such as council tax and water, while 41 per cent are living in debt due to benefits failing to cover the cost of essentials like food.

    Fifty-eight per cent of those polled reported significant ongoing extra costs due to disability and 53 per cent said their PIP payments were insufficient to cover those expenses.

    Sense chief executive James Watson-O’Neill said PIP “exists because living with a disability means facing higher costs, from increased energy bills to specialised equipment and specific diets.”

    “These additional expenses won’t disappear if eligibility is tightened. It will only plunge more disabled people into poverty.

    “Making it harder to access benefits won’t help disabled people find jobs either. It will only deepen the struggle.”

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/disabled-people-on-pip-will-not-cope-if-support-cut-charity-warns

    Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    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.

    These cuts betray Labour’s basic principles

  • Momentum launches campaign to get Labour MPs to vote down government welfare cuts

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/momentum-launches-campaign-get-labour-mps-vote-down

    LEFT-WING campaign group Momentum has begun lobbying Labour MPs to block cuts to welfare spending.

    A Commons vote is expected after the government’s proposals to reduce spending on benefits sparked an angry backlash among Labour’s grassroots.

    Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the benefits system as the “worst of all worlds,” was jeered at this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions as he insisted that Labour had a duty to reduce social security costs.

    Labour MPs urged him to “provide compassion” to those who cannot work, stressing that disabled people have become “frightened” after hearing their party use the “language of tough choices.”

    Ministers have already pledged to cut £3 billion from the welfare budget over three years and next week are expected to announce in a green paper that billions more will be axed from the main disability benefit, the personal independence payment (PIP) and funding to help those with long-term illness to return to work.

    Cutting PIP could push 700,000 disabled people into poverty, disability charities have warned.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/momentum-launches-campaign-get-labour-mps-vote-down

    Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    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.