JEREMY CORBYN challenged Theresa May today to say whether or not she cares that Britain’s poor are becoming even poorer on her watch while the richest get richer.
During Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), the Labour leader pointed to figures released this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that the average disposable income of the poorest fifth of the population has fallen by 1.6 per cent.
At the same time, the richest fifth’s disposable income rose by 4.7 per cent.
Mr Corbyn asked Ms May whether she would consider ending the freeze on welfare payments – which the ONS said was driving poverty – and whether she believed that “poverty is a price worth paying.”
He also highlighted an 80 per cent rise in demand at a food bank in the Hastings constituency of Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd.
“Austerity is clearly not working,” said Mr Corbyn. “So many people who are themselves working very hard, sometimes doing two or even three jobs, and have to access food banks just to feed their children.
“She used to talk about the ‘just about managing’ – well, they aren’t managing any more.”
He listed a series of types of poverty increases that were each punctuated by a chorus of “up!” from Labour MPs.
The Labour leader said: “People on low incomes are getting poorer where those at the top are getting richer ... Are any of these burning injustices a priority for the Prime Minister?”
Ms May denied that low earners were getting poorer, saying: “The lowest earners have seen the highest rise in their pay for 20 years as a result of the introduction of the National Living Wage.”
Mr Corbyn also asked her whether a “shambolic” Brexit or “lack of industrial strategy” were to blame for a predicted slowdown in economic growth, which he condemned as a “very sad state of affairs.”
He referred to Bank of England forecasts that GDP growth will be 1.2 per cent this year – the slowest rate in more than a decade – and that there is a one-in-four chance of the economy falling into recession.
Ms May pointed to a report suggesting that Britain will have higher growth than Germany in the coming year and added that there were “positives” for the economy under her government.
Hours after PMQs, Commons Speaker John Bercow provisionally selected five amendments to Ms May’s Brexit plan that MPs were to vote on after the Star went to print this evening.
- Labour’s “alternative plan,” which includes a customs union, single market alignment and keeping pace with European Union regulations regarding workers’ and consumers’ rights and the environment.
- The SNP’s amendment, which would supposedly somehow prevent Britain leaving the EU without a deal “under any circumstances.”
- The Cooper amendment, which would allow MPs to vote on extending Article 50 if no deal has been agreed and MPs have voted to rule out no-deal Brexit.
- The Spelman-Dromey amendment, which would create time for a Commons debate tomorrow on the Cooper amendment.
- The Costa amendment, seeking to guarantee EU citizens’ rights even in a no-deal Brexit. Tory MP Alberto Costa was forced to resign as a parliamentary private secretary after tabling it.
