So the UN Rapporteur Said....

[davidgillon]

The UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights just spent the last 12 days in the country looking into austerity and its effect on people in poverty. You can read what he actually said here, which is very powerful stuff.

"The experience of the United Kingdom, especially since 2010, underscores the conclusion that poverty is a political choice. Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so. Resources were available to the Treasury at the last budget that could have transformed the situation of millions of people living in poverty, but the political choice was made to fund tax cuts for the wealthy instead."

Or you can look at the 90 tweet thread I accidentally ended up creating as I attempted to summarize it (I thought it would take about 20, but he packed so much in).

Comments

[sovay]

poverty is a political choice. Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so.

It's useful to have someone say it with numbers, but it is terrible that it's true.