Agenda item

This Council notes the recent interim statement, published on 16 November 2018, by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston. 

Professor Alston lays bare the misery of the impact of austerity on our communities and the political motivation.  He writes “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.”

“Government ministers were almost entirely dismissive, blaming political opponents for wanting to sabotage their work, or suggesting that the media didn’t really understand the system and that Universal Credit was unfairly blamed for problems rooted in the old legacy system of benefits.” 

The level ofGovernment funding per household figure for Coventry has fallen by more than £850 between 2010/11 and 2018/19 which is a loss of funding per person of £390 thereby reducing our ability to protect our services and our citizens from the savagery of austerity. 

Therefore this council calls upon the UK Government to adhere to UN Special Rapporteur’s conclusions within his interim statement:

1.  The legislative recognition of social rights should be a central part of Brexit negotiations with social inclusion as a guiding principle of social policy

2.  The UK should introduce a single measure of poverty and measure food security.

3.  The government should initiate an expert assessment of the cumulative impact of tax and spending decisions since 2010 and prioritize the reversal of particularly regressive measures, including the benefit freeze, the two-child limit, the benefit cap, and the reduction of the housing benefit for under-occupied social rented housing.

4.  The Government should ensure local governments have the funds needed to tackle poverty at the community level, and take varying needs and tax bases into account in the ongoing Fair Funding Review.

5.  The Department of Work and Pensions should conduct an independent review of the effectiveness of reforms to welfare conditionality and sanctions introduced since 2012, and should immediately instruct its staff to explore more constructive and less punitive approaches to encouraging compliance.

6.  The five week delay in receiving benefits under Universal Credit should be eliminated, separate payments should be made to different household members, and weekly or fortnightly payments should be facilitated.

7.  Transport, especially in rural areas, should be considered an essential service, equivalent to water and electricity, and the government should regulate the sector to the extent necessary to ensure that people living in rural areas are adequately served. Abandoning people to the private market in relation to a service that affects every dimension of their basic well-being is incompatible with human rights requirements.

As the country moves toward Brexit, the Government should adopt policies designed to ensure that the brunt of the resulting economic burden is not borne by its most vulnerable citizens.

The following Motion was moved by Councillor K Sandhu and seconded by Councillor R Lakha:

“This Council notes the recent interim statement, published on 16 November 2018, by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston. 

Professor Alston lays bare the misery of the impact of austerity on our communities and the political motivation.  He writes “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.”

“Government ministers were almost entirely dismissive, blaming political opponents for wanting to sabotage their work, or suggesting that the media didn’t really understand the system and that Universal Credit was unfairly blamed for problems rooted in the old legacy system of benefits.” 

The level ofGovernment funding per household figure for Coventry has fallen by more than £850 between 2010/11 and 2018/19 which is a loss of funding per person of £390 thereby reducing our ability to protect our services and our citizens from the savagery of austerity. 

Therefore this council calls upon the UK Government to adhere to UN Special Rapporteur’s conclusions within his interim statement:

1.  The legislative recognition of social rights should be a central part of Brexit negotiations with social inclusion as a guiding principle of social policy

2.  The UK should introduce a single measure of poverty and measure food security.

3.  The government should initiate an expert assessment of the cumulative impact of tax and spending decisions since 2010 and prioritize the reversal of particularly regressive measures, including the benefit freeze, the two-child limit, the benefit cap, and the reduction of the housing benefit for under-occupied social rented housing.

4.  The Government should ensure local governments have the funds needed to tackle poverty at the community level, and take varying needs and tax bases into account in the ongoing Fair Funding Review.

5.  The Department of Work and Pensions should conduct an independent review of the effectiveness of reforms to welfare conditionality and sanctions introduced since 2012, and should immediately instruct its staff to explore more constructive and less punitive approaches to encouraging compliance.

6.  The five week delay in receiving benefits under universal credit should be eliminated, separate payments should be made to different. household members and weekly or fortnightly payments should be facilitated.

7.  Transport, especially in rural areas, should be considered an essential service, equivalent to water and electricity, and the government should regulate the sector to the extent necessary to ensure that people living in rural areas are adequately served. Abandoning people to the private market in relation to a service that affects every dimension of their basic well-being is incompatible with human rights requirements.

As the country moves toward Brexit, the Government should adopt policies designed to ensure that the brunt of the resulting economic burden is not borne by its most vulnerable citizens.”

RESOLVED that the Motion, as set out above, be adopted.

Notes:

(a)  In accordance with the Constitution, a recorded vote was taken.

(b)  Councillors R Brown, T Sawdon and G Williams did not take part in the vote as they had left the meeting before the vote was taken.

The Councillors voting for and against the Motion were as follows:

Result: Carried

For: 37

Against: 11

Abstentions: 0