Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, produced his final report on the state of the UK. He commented,
“The UK is the world’s fifth largest economy, it contains many areas of immense wealth…
The results? 14 million people, a fifth of the population, live in poverty. Four million of these are more than 50% below the poverty line, and 1.5 million are destitute, unable to afford basic essentials. The widely respected Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts a 7% rise in child poverty between 2015 and 2022, and various sources predict child poverty rates of as high as 40%. For almost one in every two children to be poor in twenty-first century Britain is not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one.”
“But through it all, one actor has stubbornly resisted seeing the situation for what it is. The Government has remained determinedly in a state of denial.”