UK poverty hits millions

The stark situation for many millions of Britons facing poverty has been outlined by new data from the office for national statistics (ONS).

 
Staggeringly under the last Tory-led government almost a third of the UK population suffered income-related poverty during at least one year between 2010 and 2013.

 
Almost 40 per cent of those aged over 65 were hit under David Cameron and Nick Clegg, while for those outside that age group the figure was 30 per cent, and in single parent households three out of five experienced poverty.

 
Overall almost 20m people saw their incomes fall below 60 per cent of the national average at some point during this period.

 
With the Tories now determined to continue with their ideologically driven austerity agenda, those struggling to get by are likely to face even further hardship in the coming years.

 
Indeed, as the ONS points out, it is those who have already faced poverty who are now more likely to be hit again, while Oxfam says the data explains the explosion of foodbanks around Britain.

 
“This is just the latest data demonstrating that ordinary people across the country continue to suffer the legacy of an economic crisis they did not create, while the very wealthiest continue to increase their riches”, said Unite assistant general secretary, Steve Turner.

 
He added, “People, families and whole local communities have just suffered the longest fall in living standards since the 1870s, poverty is increasing and we are the sixth richest country in the world.

 
“To say ‘no more’ to the austerity driven, misery-causing policies of this Tory government is why tens of thousands have already signed up to come on the People’s Assembly demonstration on June 20.”

 
Last year more than 50,000 people from every section of society, young and old marched through central London to Parliament Square for a free festival.

 
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