Letters / An act of moral cruelty
The Labour Government’s decision to keep the two child benefit cap is not only an act of moral cruelty, it is also economically illiterate.
Keir Starmer has consistently said that his government cannot afford to lift thousands of British families out of hardship. The problem with this position is that when families are kept in a state of economic insecurity, the likelihood of mental illness, physical illness, addiction and family breakdown all increase.
When people’s lives spiral out of control, it’s the government that pays. Emergency services, the NHS and social services are required to step in and pick up the pieces of folk’s broken lives.
I met a criminal barrister who was visiting Shetland on holiday a few weeks ago. I asked him what proportion of the criminal cases he was involved with had poverty as a root cause of the crime. After a moment’s thought, he replied that he thought all of them did.
Poverty is a drain on our economy. A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that almost 20 per cent of UK Government expenditure was money spent making up for the damage caused by poverty on people’s lives.
A better world is possible. If the government enacted policies to lift people out of poverty, such as the Universal Basic Income, we would have a workforce that is happier, healthier and more productive.
Everyone pointing out the moral deficiency of keeping the two child benefit cap is 100 per cent correct, but we must also make the economic case for lifting people out of poverty.
If the new government is serious about boosting the economy, it must first invest in people. We are the economy.
Cllr Alex Armitage
Shetland South
Scottish Green Party
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