Preferable to Starmer he may be, but there is scant sign of a sharp political break in Burnham’s policies so far — while left challenges aren’t making much of a running either, finds ANDREW MURRAY. How can socialism be put back on the map?
Alongside even the government’s own social mobility commission resigning over the Tories’ failure to act, two different pieces of news illustrated starkly how cuts have consequences and that the longer the Tories’ austerity project goes on the clearer and more widespread these become.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation state of the nation report confirmed a 700,000 increase in the number of children and older people in poverty.
The UK Poverty 2017 report highlights that overall 14 million people live in poverty in Britain — over one in five of the population. This is made up of eight million working-age adults, four million children and 1.9 million pensioners — 8 million live in families where at least one person is in work.
British military spending is among the highest in the world, diverts scarce resources from far better causes and fuels international conflict. It’s time we made different choices, argues LIZ PAYNE
DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
In the current climate, it is vital to bust the myths and put forward the case for a humane and decent social security system that supports people, argues FRAN HEATHCOTE



