Philip Hammond has blasted the UN report into poverty in the UK insisting that Dr Philip Alston’s findings are “not what we see in this country”.
The Chancellor told BBC’s Newsnight that he did not accept the report “at all” after it was released two weeks ago.
Dr Alston’s damning conclusion ripped into Universal Credit, welfare cuts and austerity following a whirlwind 12-day visit of the UK last November where he visited foodbanks, schools and more to assess life for the poorest in this country.
Philip Hammond: "I reject the idea that there are vast numbers of people facing dire poverty in this country"
Emily Maitlis: "14 million according to the UN rapporteur"
Philip Hammond: "I don’t accept the UN rapporteur’s report at all"
MORE 22:30#newsnight | @maitlis pic.twitter.com/Kk7qLt7Lba
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) June 3, 2019
The UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights described the DWP as creating a “digital and sanitised version of the 19th-century workhouse made infamous by Charles Dickens”. He also laid the blame on the government for 14 million people living in poverty.
But Hammond was bullish in his response. He said: “I reject the idea that there are vast numbers of people facing dire poverty in this country.