Former Cabinet minister Ruth Kelly, vice president of the Catholic Union, has argued that the mini-budget undermines “the Government’s economic and fiscal credibility”.
In an article for the think tank Policy Exchange this week, she warns that if credibility is not restored, the burden of balancing the budget will yet again fall on those at the bottom of the income scale, heralding a “new era of austerity in all but name”.
Caritas Social Action Network (Csan), the social action agency of the Church in England and Wales, described the fiscal statement as presenting “a vision of economic growth in which a minority prosper while many struggle”.
Terry Drainey, Bishop of Middlesbrough and Csan chair, joined 50 other faith leaders including a number of Catholics in signing a joint public issues team letter criticising the government for “not going far enough” to support the most vulnerable. This winter’s challenges, they said, would be “a matter of life and death”. The faith leaders say a family of four receiving Universal Credit will still be £1391 behind what they need to stay warm and fed this winter.
The bishops of Northern Ireland have also condemned the recent mini-budget, describing it as an “unjust distribution of resources” in an appeal to churches and civil society to help those worst affected by the cost of living crisis.
In the statement, issued on the feast of St Vincent de Paul, the bishops express “urgent concern about the challenges facing the most vulnerable of our society, as multiple economic pressures converge to create life threatening levels of deprivation and fear”.
“For the poorest in our society, this is an emergency, not a crisis,” they say, calling on politicians and parishioners “to come together in a spirit of solidarity and active concern for those who are in need”.
They continue: “We therefore urge a combined effort from all those in Church, politics and society to help address this crisis now; to act justly, to promote the common good and to show solidarity with the many thousands of families who are enduring hardship and worry.”
The Northern Irish bishops’ statement followed a series of interventions in the cost of living crisis by Catholic leaders.
In a statement earlier this month, Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols said that “the needs of the poorest in society must be given urgent attention” given the “urgent and dire need” prevalent in society.
Poverty is on the rise across Europe, with Caritas-Europa, a coalition of 47 Catholic charities across the EU, warning that over a quarter of children were living in poverty prior to the war in Ukraine, which was, they said in a statement earlier this week, expected to worsen the situation. The EU is still a long way from meeting its Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2030, they said.
Loading ...
