Gordon Brown is right to shift the focus from partygate to povertygate (First food banks, now bed banks: in my time in politics, this is the worst poverty I’ve seen, 1 March). The recent circus of political dishonesty and deceit has rightly evoked condemnation, but the furore has distracted us from the cruel assault this government has made on our poorest citizens.
Brown reminds us that access to food, warmth and a reasonable baseline income is the minimum that any government should provide for its citizens. Not only has this government failed to do this, but it has added to people’s despair by increasing taxes, allowing hikes in food and energy prices, cutting universal credit, and taking away much of the safety net of support for those families struggling the most. Politicians never seem to recognise the pain they cause or to hear the voices of those who really suffer from their policies. We should all join Brown in a voluble condemnation of povertygate.
Peter Riddle
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
• In highlighting the extensive evidence of poverty, Gordon Brown should also reflect on Labour’s failure to present a coherent alternative. First, in committing itself to a radical overhaul of a benefits system built on deterrence and punishment, reflected in its failure to ensure the entitlement and dignity of a living wage, and without the subsidy of charitable relief; in how many poor parents blame themselves for not being able to provide the basics of food and warmth for their children and feel shame in seeking help; and in how the system fuels a spectrum of blame heaped on the “feckless poor”. Second, in committing itself to go beyond the relief of poverty, to radically reduce the major inequalities that have such a devastating impact on the health, education and wellbeing of children, families and communities, as evidenced in Sir Michael Marmot’s 2020 review on health equity in England.
Prof Mike Stein
University of York
• Gordon Brown’s article caused me to revisit my letter in 2013. Back then it was charities that reported that half a million people were dependent on food banks (today it is five times that figure), and they did so on the hopeful basis that if the government realised what was happening, it would reverse its welfare cuts. On the contrary, that was all part of David Cameron’s idea of “big society”. Cameron stated that the increase in food banks was proof that big society was working, and his government, with little opposition from Labour, assessed just how much state spending on welfare could be replaced by charitable giving. And so we see more alarm from charities, and former prime ministers, as more responsibilities are delegated to them. This is the Tories’ brave new world – compassionate in giving and conservative in lowering taxes. It is a system that condemns millions to penury.
Colin Burke
Cartmel, Cumbria
• Gordon Brown is undoubtedly right that with so many issues coming along at the same time, some families will fall further and faster into poverty. But simply cancelling the planned national insurance rise without advancing the case for finding the cash that would have been raised is unworthy of him. He should press home the case for taxing the very highest earners more, and a windfall tax on energy companies.
Les Bright
Exeter
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