Budget admits poorest will be hit hardest


by Sunny Hundal    
October 20, 2010 at 3:30 pm

Today George Osborne said:

We are all in this together and all must make a contribution.

Fairness means creating a welfare system that helps the vulnerable, supports people into work, and is also affordable for the working families who pay for it from their taxes.

Except that the CSR report itself contradicts this.

Sky News points out that a chart on page 98 of the official document reveals the bottom 10% of earners will lose the most money from the cuts.

Even taken with the impact of June’s Budget measures, only the very richest bear more of the brunt than the poorest.

Burdz Eye View blogger points out how spending aimed at some of the most marginalised in society is being cut drastically, only to save “paltry” sums.

Update:
Demos point to another graph, also in the budget report, that shows the poorest will be hit hardest by the changes in welfare.


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Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Richard

That’s a graph of income distribution, not poverty – the bottom percentile includes many high net worth/low income people

2. Sunny Hundal

“ the bottom percentile includes many high net worth/low income people”

And what percentage are we talking here? 50% of ‘poor’ people are HNW individuals perhaps? Maybe we don’t need a welfare state because they’re all just rich landowning gentry really.

3. the a&e charge nurse

“We are all in this together and all must make a contribution” – oh, I do wish he would qualify this assertion by admitting that D-Cam & Co will get along just fine in their insulated bubble.

I mean what sort of personal sacrifice has Ozzie had to make – I’ll bet’s in par with Maudes voluntary work?
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/08/22/tories-want-us-to-volunteer-but-dont-have-time-themselves/

Cheeky buggers?

4. Tim Worstall

“that shows the poorest will be hit hardest by the changes in welfare.”

Well, my word, that *is* a surprise, isn’t it?

Welfare is what we give to the poor so as to improve their lives. Therefore, if we cut welfare, it’s going to be the poor welfare is cut from, isn’t it?

This really isn’t rocket science folks…..

5. Mr S. Pill

@Tim

Maybe you could tell your pals on the Tory front bench that next time they start waffling about “progressive” and “fair” cuts…

6. Richard

I’m all for cutting welfare as long as corporate welfare is cut as well.

7. Richard W

It is pretty much confirming what Chris Giles on the FT Money Supply blog and the IFS said back in June that to claim the retrenchment is progressive was nonsense. There is plenty of international evidence that the coalition can point to that says an 80/20 consolidation gets best results. They are actually probably closer to 75/25. However, the progressive narrative should be ridiculed. None of those international studies claim to be progressive, they are concerned with economic efficiency.

8. Laban

Hang on. That bottom graph is ‘changes in benefit in kind as a percentage of 2010-11 consumption of benefits in kind’. It shows that ‘benefit in kind’ (whatever that is – could anyone tell me? I didn’t think HMG handed out free orange juice or sacks of coal any more) will be reduced by up to 9.5%.

Doesn’t actually say that the poorest will be hit hardest. Depends on what these benefits in kind are and who gets them.

The people who ARE going to be nailed are poor pensioners, as their electricity bills double to pay for green fantasies, and as food prices increase. We’ll have more stories about elderly couples trying to keep warm with a one-bar electric fire. But I guess that’s in a good cause.

(Not against low-carbon energy if it’s sensible. India are looking at thorium nuclear reactors, which produce far less long half-life waste than conventional nuclear. The UK used to have one at Winfrith Heath, but uranium reactors were preferred because you can make bombs from the byproducts)

9. Schmidt

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No inconvenient trick or treating, simply send your manservant out in the ministerial limousine to evict the poor from their hovels and take all their possessions while you enjoy a sound spanking and some nasal refreshment.

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Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  2. John West

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  3. Christine Ottery

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  4. gemma tumelty

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  5. Brian Moylan

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  6. Kevin Arscott

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  7. Tim Ireland

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  8. Doron

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  9. Vijay odedra

    Government’s own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://t.co/v9VurnU via @libcon

  10. kate blagojevic

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  11. Rick Titley

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  12. sunny hundal

    The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  13. Finola Kerrigan

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  14. Rach

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  15. Joan McAlpine

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  16. New Internationalist

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL #uk #cuts

  17. Frances Weetman

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  18. John West

    RT @newint: RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL #uk #cuts

  19. Pete Bowler

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  20. Adam Burrows

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  21. Matt Black

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  22. Hannah M

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  23. Jennifer McMahon

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  24. Pucci Dellanno

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  25. Dave Howard

    "We're all in this together" ???????? "All" "Together" Cameron has a different dictionary to me! http://bit.ly/9GaGYX

  26. Scott Neil

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  27. Niamh Foley

    RT @sunny_hundal: The government's own graphs admit the poorest will be hit hardest by the #CSR http://t.co/ICdfjbL

  28. Press Not Sorry

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  29. john miller

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  30. louise harffey

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  31. Chris Preston

    RT @libcon: Government's own budget admits poorest will be hit hardest http://bit.ly/cVnh9u

  32. Chris Preston

    Osborne screws the poorest: http://is.gd/gb3i5, http://is.gd/gb3jo. Apple start censoring Mac: http://is.gd/gb3mL. Capitalism FAIL.

  33. Beth Carley

    For those who haven't already seen this from @sunny_hundal, even CSR report admits poorest to bit hit hardest by cuts: http://bit.ly/9KJ1GY





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