Do you remember a few years back in 2019 when the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights published a report that accused the Conservative government of presiding over a “systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population”?1Booth, R. (2019) UN poverty expert hits back over UK ministers’ ‘denial of facts’, The Guardian, 24/05/2019 [online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/24/un-poverty-expert-hits-back-over-uk-ministers-denial-of-facts-philip-alston [Accessed 07/11/2023]. Well the current incumbent of that position – Olivier De Schutter – has been rattling their cage again, saying that poverty levels in the UK “violate international law”, as reported by the Guardian.2Booth, R. (2023) UK ‘in violation of international law’ over poverty levels, says UN envoy, The Guardian, 05/05/2023 [online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/05/uk-poverty-levels-simply-not-acceptable-says-un-envoy-olivier-de-schutter [Accessed 07/11/2023].
A government spokesperson trotted out the usual kind of defence which included this line:
“To help more people out of poverty through work, we are investing £3.5bn to help thousands into jobs and grow the economy as we bear down on inflation, and we have committed to increasing the national living wage,”
But what really caught my eye was how Olivier De Schutter’s countered that viewpoint:
“One common realisation is that we need to stop thinking that economic growth will lift all boats. […] We’ve seen in most OECD countries that growth of GDP has been going hand in hand with increasing inequalities and a failure to reduce levels of both relative and absolute poverty.
“So we should stop focusing on creating the macroeconomic conditions that will stimulate growth and focus instead on providing support to low-income households providing access to work for all people, including people who have low levels of qualification and creating a much more inclusive economy rather than one that creates wealth for the elites and particularly for the shareholders of the largest corporations”.
We need to stop thinking that economic growth will lift all boats. […] We should stop focusing on creating the macroeconomic conditions that will stimulate growth and focus instead on providing support to low-income households […] creating a much more inclusive economy rather than one that creates wealth for the elites.
Olivier De Schutter
Of course that chimes perfectly with the views that drive this website, but it contrasts starkly with the views of most mainstream economists and politicians of nearly all political shades. It is refreshing to hear the UN special rapporteur cutting through the increasingly outmoded received wisdom and pointing the way to a post-growth economics fit for the current state of our nation and natural world.