The Guardian view on deepening poverty in the UK: a catastrophic Tory legacy has cut millions adrift | Editorial

"The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's latest report on poverty in the UK, published this week, should be read first and foremost as an indictment of all Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024. During almost a decade and a half of Tory rule, the JRF estimates that no progress at all was made in reducing overall levels of relative hardship. No surprise perhaps. Through wide-ranging, ideologically driven welfare cuts, ministers actively sought to make life harder, not easier, for many of the least well-off."

"The grim legacy of that approach is that in 2023-24 the last dataset available about one in five people were in relative poverty, defined as less than 60% of median income. But it also turns out that 6.8 million people were struggling to survive on far, far less than that, having effectively been economically cut adrift. Some 3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022."

"As the JRF's chief analyst, Peter Matejic, puts it: Poverty in the UK is still not just widespread, it is deeper and more damaging than at any point in the last 30 years. Tory austerian-in-chief George Osborne and his imitators have a lot to answer for. But Mr Matejic's chastening observation is also directly relevant to today's political debates. Much of the Westminster bubble appears to be in thrall to the notion that Britain's welfare budget must be cut substantially"

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that between 2010 and 2024 no progress occurred in reducing overall levels of relative poverty. Wide-ranging, ideologically driven welfare cuts during that period actively made life harder for many of the least well-off. In 2023–24 about one in five people lived in relative poverty (under 60% of median income). An estimated 6.8 million people struggled on far less, and around 3.8 million experienced destitution in 2022. Many of the poorest people are in work but unable to afford food, pay bills, or manage debts. Further welfare reductions tied to higher security spending would worsen hardship for millions.

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