Yet again the UK’s government is attacking the most vulnerable so one million children are facing poverty after Labour froze housing benefit.
This is incredible behaviour from a government that claims to be run by the Labour Party – running in direct opposition to the party’s fundamental aim of support for the people who need it.
Remember: there is no need for any crackdown on people who have less. The UK is a phenomenally rich country and all any government needs to do is tax the rich.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Instead, we have this rammed down our throats:
Labour’s decision to freeze local housing allowance (LHA) rates will leave almost one million children living in households where there is a shortfall between housing benefits and rents.
Analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank found that the government’s decision not to raise LHA to cover the bottom 30% of rents will leave 925,000 children living in households facing a cash gap.
An estimated 440,000 households with children currently cannot cover their rents with housing benefits with an additional 90,000 households expected to struggle to make ends meet by March 2026 following the government’s LHA freeze.
Families in Wales are hardest hit with 62% of households renting privately facing a shortfall compared to 31% in Scotland.
LHA rates are intended to ensure housing benefits cover the bottom 30% of market rates to ensure low-income renters can cover private rents in their area.
LHA rates have also faced freezes in recent years. The Conservatives had frozen LHA rates for four years before re-linking them to private rents last year while Labour opted to refreeze rates from April this year.
That’s despite rents hitting record highs and rising above inflation and wages.
Keir Starmer’s party seems determined to make its government more hated than all the inept and corrupt Tory administrations that came before it.
The reason? We expect Tories to attack the poor and uplift the rich. Labour swept into power last year with a promise to improve living conditions for the poorest and most vulnerable in society – that’s what we understood by the slogan, “Change” – and has done the exact opposite.
Pensioners were stripped of their winter fuel payments, child benefit payments continue to be restricted to two children per family, now housing benefit is being restricted so it won’t cover rents for the poorest people.
And the government is soon to announce a renewed attack on disabled people with unfair restrictions on who will receive benefits that are intended to save money – not reduce fraud (which is non-existent among those benefits).
This is all par for the course as far as Keir Starmer is concerned. He conned Labour members into making him leader by lying that he would honour 10 pledges if he became prime minister. He subsequently ditched them all.
There have been many more pledges, commitments and promises in the years since, but we are still waiting for any significant improvement in the living standards of the UK’s poorest.
And Labour is already one-tenth of the way through this Parliament.
This Writer thinks we need to accept the evidence before us – that Labour under Keir Starmer and his cronies will never lift a finger for the people the party was created to represent.
They have deliberately betrayed those who voted for them.
As for those of us who are affected by this betrayal: if we want to get through the next four and a half years, we need to work together to find our own way. And we need to learn how to identify charlatans like Starmer’s MPs to make sure we don’t get fooled again.
Source: Labour’s housing benefit freeze leaves 1m children facing poverty – Big Issue
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
One million children are facing poverty after Labour froze housing benefit
Yet again the UK’s government is attacking the most vulnerable so one million children are facing poverty after Labour froze housing benefit.
This is incredible behaviour from a government that claims to be run by the Labour Party – running in direct opposition to the party’s fundamental aim of support for the people who need it.
Remember: there is no need for any crackdown on people who have less. The UK is a phenomenally rich country and all any government needs to do is tax the rich.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Instead, we have this rammed down our throats:
Keir Starmer’s party seems determined to make its government more hated than all the inept and corrupt Tory administrations that came before it.
The reason? We expect Tories to attack the poor and uplift the rich. Labour swept into power last year with a promise to improve living conditions for the poorest and most vulnerable in society – that’s what we understood by the slogan, “Change” – and has done the exact opposite.
Pensioners were stripped of their winter fuel payments, child benefit payments continue to be restricted to two children per family, now housing benefit is being restricted so it won’t cover rents for the poorest people.
And the government is soon to announce a renewed attack on disabled people with unfair restrictions on who will receive benefits that are intended to save money – not reduce fraud (which is non-existent among those benefits).
This is all par for the course as far as Keir Starmer is concerned. He conned Labour members into making him leader by lying that he would honour 10 pledges if he became prime minister. He subsequently ditched them all.
There have been many more pledges, commitments and promises in the years since, but we are still waiting for any significant improvement in the living standards of the UK’s poorest.
And Labour is already one-tenth of the way through this Parliament.
This Writer thinks we need to accept the evidence before us – that Labour under Keir Starmer and his cronies will never lift a finger for the people the party was created to represent.
They have deliberately betrayed those who voted for them.
As for those of us who are affected by this betrayal: if we want to get through the next four and a half years, we need to work together to find our own way. And we need to learn how to identify charlatans like Starmer’s MPs to make sure we don’t get fooled again.
Source: Labour’s housing benefit freeze leaves 1m children facing poverty – Big Issue
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
you might also like
Let’s start the New Year with some hopeful news
More mistakes in the script? Correcting Cameron’s New Year speech
Osborne wants a ‘year of hard truths’. Here’s one: He’s HIDING the truth