Latest editorial
BRITAIN’S poorest families will suffer the most in the next recession because of cuts to welfare payments, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warns today.
Tory changes to social security — such as universal credit, the freeze on working-age benefits and cuts to child tax credit — mean low-income households will have significantly less “insurance” if earnings fall.
The poorest households will lose an average of 53p after tax for every £1 fall in their pre-tax income when recession hits, up from 39p under the current arrangements.
The 2025 Budget shores up the PM’s political position with headline-grabbing welfare U-turns, but with no improvements on offer to declining public services or living standards, writes MICHAEL BURKE
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
We cannot refuse to abolish the unjustifiable two-child benefit cap that pushes children into poverty while finding billions of pounds for defence spending — the membership and the public expect better from Labour, writes JON TRICKETT MP
