Food banks shame us all ? it?s time to hold the government to account.
In austerity Britain, children are going to bed hungry and families are facing the distress and humiliation of queuing for emergency food parcels.
The coalition government says ?we?re all in this together?. But children should not be ?in this? at all. Nor should desperate families hit by benefit cuts or unemployment, or those in working households who earn too little to make ends meet. The charities that are working overtime to run food banks are doing excellent work. But their very existence shames us all. How can it be right that the seventh richest country in the world cannot ensure a basic threshold of decency for its most vulnerable citizens?
Or that child poverty ? which reduced dramatically under the Labour government ? is now set to surge by an average of 100,000 children a year, largely due to the coalition?s plans to slash the welfare budget by ?20bn by 2014? The deficit reduction programme is too fast and too deep. It is targeted disproportionately on the poor rather than the rich. It prioritises cuts to welfare and public services over taxes on wealthy individuals, banks and financial transactions and the effective closure of tax loopholes.
Since the postwar period, the welfare state has protected us from falling below an essential threshold of decency due to our age, infirmity or life circumstances. Austerity is starting to tear holes in that safety net. The coalition government ? and future governments ? must be held to account for the decisions they make and the impact they have. That is why I believe it is time for us to debate the introduction of a legal duty on the UK government to ensure an adequate standard of living for all.
This could work in a similar way to the Child Poverty Act ? passed by the Labour government with cross-party support ? which commits government to eradicate child poverty by 2020. This act not only sets targets for reducing child poverty but also lays down in law the steps that must be taken to reach those targets, by tackling low income and other forms of disadvantage.
Tragically, Labour?s ambitious target seems certain to be missed as the progress made before 2010 is squandered.? But at least the Child Poverty Act provides a legal standard with which to hold our government to account. It is also a public declaration of priorities by a society that aspires to be decent and fair and to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
A duty to ensure an adequate standard of living would do no more than reflect the obligations that the UK (along with 160 other nations) has voluntarily assumed under United Nations human rights treaties.
The right to an adequate standard of living includes a minimum threshold of food, clothing, shelter and the right to social security. These are basic social goods which any civilised society should aspire to provide to everyone without discrimination. They are not luxuries for which governments can shrug off their obligations on the grounds that times are tough.
A duty to ensure an adequate standard of living would not mean that individuals could pursue the state for welfare benefits or housing unreasonably. It would commit the government to deploy ? in UN parlance ? ?maximum available resources? towards realising basic economic and social rights. Crucially, this includes generating sufficient revenues to fund essential services and social security, through taxation and also by regulating markets in ways that serve social goals.
Now is the time to make the case for a duty on government to ensure an adequate standard of living.? The coalition government has set up a commission to explore whether the UK should have a new Bill of Rights to build on the rights contained in the Human Rights Act. The commission is seeking views on what should go in such a Bill of Rights. If we are truly committed to our welfare state, why not enshrine it in law?
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Kate Green MP is shadow minister for women and equality, and tweets @KateGreenMP
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Photo: Dom Stocqueler
child poverty, coalition government, human rights act, Kate Green, Labour, poverty, UN
Source: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/08/20/legislating-for-living-standards/
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