As hardship surges across Britain, Labour must point to the need for a new social settlement
The existence of poverty in a wealthy nation with the resources to overcome it is not simply an injustice: it is a social crime. It is a political choice, as evidenced by countries where poverty rates are lower because they take conscious decisions to build strong welfare states, support powerful trade unions and encourage progressive taxation.
Poverty subjects human beings to tedium and boredom by restricting their freedoms. It leads to the constant, exhausting intrusions of anxiety provoked by an unopened gas bill on the kitchen table or the costs of an unexpected school trip. Some will find that they have been denied the satisfaction of one of the most basic human needs – to eat – and will join the hundreds of thousands driven to food banks.
