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Successive UK governments over the past decade have inflicted “great misery” on millions of Britons with “punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous” austerity policies, according to the United Nations’ poverty envoy.

The critical remarks on Friday came amid deep political turmoil in the UK over its looming departure from the European Union – or Brexit, as it is widely known – and growing economic worries over the prospect of a disorderly exit from the bloc.

In a damning report, Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, lambasted poverty rates in Britain’s age of austerity as a “social calamity and an economic disaster”.

“Fourteen million people, a fifth of the population, live in poverty. Four million of these are more than 50 percent below the poverty line, and 1.5 million are destitute, unable to afford basic essentials,” Alston said, citing figures from the UK-based Social Metrics Commission and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity.

“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,” he added.

Austerity-era Britain

Over the past eight years, consecutive governments led by the country’s Conservative party have enforced widespread austerity measures as part of efforts to reduce Britain’s national debt levels in the wake of the the financial sector’s implosion in 2008.

The protracted British strategy of budget cutting – although not as draconian as in other EU countries, such as crisis-hit Greece – has seen funding for local authorities and public services slashed and welfare provisions dramatically cut back. According to the Local Government Association, between 2010 and 2020, local councils in the country will have lost 60p ($0.77) out of every £1 ($1.28) the government had provided for services.

“Libraries have closed in record numbers, community and youth centers have been shrunk and underfunded, public spaces and buildings including parks and recreation centers have been sold off,” Alston said in his 24-page report.

But in recent months, the government has been cautiously signalling a “light at the end of the tunnel” for the country’s public finances, pointing to declining debt levels and the continuous drop of the budget deficit – from almost 9.9 percent in 2009-2010 to 1.9 percent this year – amid the increased focus on spending cuts. 

In late October, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in his annual budget speech – his last before Brexit – that “the era of austerity is finally coming to an end”.

Hammond’s October 29 announcement came three weeks after earlier claims by Prime Minister Theresa May that austerity was “over” and “better days” were ahead.

But critics have pointed to the shutting down of public institutions, soaring homelessness rates, rising food bank use and projected rises in poverty rates as evidence of the austerity programmes devastating social implications.

In his report, Alston accused authorities of remaining “determinedly in a state of denial” over the impact of their fiscal approach.

“The costs of austerity have fallen disproportionately upon the poor, women, racial and ethnic minorities, children, single parents, and people with disabilities,” he said.

“In the area of poverty-related policy, the evidence points to the conclusion that the driving force has not been economic but rather a commitment to achieving radical social re-engineering,” he added.

Government pushback

In response to a request for comment on Alston’s report, the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) quoted an unnamed government spokesperson as saying that it “completely” disagreed with the envoy’s analysis.

“With this government’s changes, household incomes have never been higher, income inequality has fallen, the number of children living in workless households is at a record low and there are now one million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared with 2010,” the spokesperson cited by DWP said.

“We are absolutely committed to helping people improve their lives while providing the right support for those who need it,” the spokesperson added.

Also on Friday, May, who has come under intense public scrutiny and parliamentary pressure over her draft Brexit deal,  announced the appointment of a new government minister to head the negotiations with Brussels. Stephen Barclay was named Brexit secretary, replacing Dominic Raab who was one of the several ministers to quit on Thursday over the proposed withdrawal agreement.

The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, nearly three years after 52 percent of Britons voted in favour of ending the country’s 43-year membership of the 28-member bloc during a deeply divisive referendum.

Kartik Raj, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, called on the UK’s leaders to heed the UN envoy’s report despite the ongoing political unrest.

“Professor Alston’s excoriating analysis of the UK government’s failures to tackle poverty makes for devastating reading,” Raj said.

“The government needs to sit up and pay attention to what he has said at this crucial time, not hope that his recommendations get buried in the nonstop rolling news coverage of Brexit,” he added.

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©2018
Mashable, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Mashable, MashBash and Mashable House are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission.

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have continued to protest against a controversial social security law, which came into effect at the start of the month.

The latest of several demonstrations against the law was held in the city of Ramallah on Monday, where thousands of workers staged a sit-in outside the Palestinian government headquarters.

“The government is not listening to our concerns,” said Jack Syriani, a worker at the Jerusalem School of Bethlehem and member of the National Social Security movement (NSSM), which has headed opposition to the law.

“We wanted to modify this law, but the government has refused to hear our concerns. Now we want it cancelled completely,” he said.

Opposition to the law ranges from concerns that monthly employee deductions will be unmanageable for workers, to fears over the long-term security of their contributions and the viability of the system under a military occupation.

Other protesters on Monday called for the law to be frozen temporarily to allow for negotiations with the government.

Social security coverage for private sector

The social security law was first signed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2016 by presidential decree, but its implementation was delayed for two years to allow companies and workers time to prepare.

Its aim is to provide social security coverage to private sector employees, who make up around 53 percent of the workforce in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The first phase of the law took effect on November 1 and consists of monthly employee and employer contributions to the newly established Palestinian Social Security Corporation (PSSC), for the management of retirement pensions, insurance for work-related injuries and maternity leave.

The PSSC also receives funding in the form of grants, donations and loans.

Employees who work more than 16 days a month are expected to contribute seven percent of their monthly salaries to the PSSC, while employers will contribute nine percent of salaries, plus an additional 1.6 percent to cover accident insurance.

According to the law, workers will be able to apply for a retirement pension at age 60.

Syriani told Al Jazeera that the seven percent deductions would make life difficult for Palestinians who are already burdened by personal debt.

“If a worker is making 2,000 ($541) or 2,500 shekels ($677) a month, he already has to pay half of that to the bank to pay off loans,” he said, adding that many Palestinians have become dependent on loans and often use the funds to purchase cars, homes, or other consumer goods.

“On top of the loan payments, then the social security company also takes from his salary. How can he live with the remaining money? He will not be able to afford to provide a good life for his family or children.”

Palestinian Labour Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla – who has become the focus of demonstrators’ anger, with many calling for his resignation – told Al Jazeera that the workers have rejected the bill because “some of them are unable to understand the law properly.”

He added that although the law will not be delayed, a “special committee” consisting of eight government ministers has been formed in order to “open a dialogue with all the parties who are against the bill”.

Employees and employers who do not register will not be penalised until negotiations are complete, which could take anywhere from a few weeks to six months, Abu Shahla said.

At that point, the law will become compulsory for all of society, he added.

‘Nothing is ever guaranteed in Palestine’

Fadi Arouri, a journalist who also works at an international humanitarian NGO, told Al Jazeera that the economic and political situation in the occupied territory makes the national social security system unviable.

“We are not stable,” he said. “We are not controlling our own exports and imports. We don’t have our own currency. Our government is financed by [international] aid.

“If something happens, no one is going to save the people, and the national security law will not be valued in a country under debt,” he added. “We don’t even control our own economy. How can we be sure that our money will be secure?”

For Syriani, the main concern for Palestinians is the lack of a guarantee that the money will still be there when workers reach retirement age.

He said workers are demanding that a “special court” be established to provide workers with legal recourse that can guarantee that their contributions to the social security fund are not lost.

Palestinians have also lived under an Israeli military occupation for more than half a century, which limits the independence and control that the Palestinian Authority (PA) practically exercises over its territory, which consists of about 18 percent of the West Bank known as Area A.

“What if something happens with the political situation? Who is responsible for ensuring that we don’t lose out money? Nothing is ever guaranteed in Palestine,” Syriani told Al Jazeera.

Are the workers represented?

A major demand among protesters is the restructure of the PSSC board to include more representation of workers, in order to ensure the funds are being invested for their benefit. Currently, only five of 18 board members represent their interests.

“There are some board members who are investors and businessmen. How can we know, as workers, that they would not be directly or indirectly benefited from the investments of the funds?” Arouri said.

Jabril Saadah, the head researcher at the Ramallah-based Bisan Center for Research and Development, told Al Jazeera that these suspicions arise from a history of widespread corruption and nepotism practised by Palestinian leaders, many of whom have ties to some of the largest companies in Palestine.

Abu Shahla has been accused by protesters of personal involvement in the selection of Bank of Palestine as the financial body to manage the social security funds, owing to his own personal ties with the bank, where he has previously served on the board of directors and continues to own stock.

However, Abu Shahla has denied this accusation, telling Al Jazeera that the bank was chosen by a “special committee” and the PSSC board because it is the largest bank in Palestine and has branches in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“I am only a minister now and I am only here to help my people,” he said.

In an apparent concession to the protesters’ demands, Abu Shahla told Al Jazeera that discussions are underway to establish a “general assembly” made up of 50 Palestinian citizens that would oversee the activities of the board.

Workers, meanwhile, told Al Jazeera that the first phase of the law should also cover other aspects of the society’s needs, such as the implementation of unemployment insurance and healthcare.

While Abu Shahla said these benefits would come at later stages, he noted that there was no set timeframe for their future implementation, and that it would depend on the economic and political situation.

However, Palestinian workers believe these issues and reforms should have been addressed and implemented before the law went into effect, in order to build confidence in the system among employees in the occupied territory. Instead, they say that the new law leaves them facing an uncertain future.