The United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, has said he is considering whether to describe the UK's benefits sanctions regime as 'cruel and inhuman' following a two-week audit into the impact of austerity.
Alston, who is preparing a hard-hitting report after visiting some of the poorest areas of Britain, including Newcastle, Glasgow, Belfast, Essex and London, said he had heard 'some pretty horrendous stories' about how disabled people are faring under the new universal credit system. He described the poor as 'easy victims'.
During his final public event, Alston told an audience of human rights lawyers and activists: 'Whether I characterise it as cruel and inhuman, I will see how I feel on Thursday night when I am finishing writing my statement. I am aware that many of the people who have experienced those sanctions have characterised them in that way.'
Alston met government ministers in London who told him 'there wasn't austerity', and he questioned what Theresa May meant when she said she wanted to end austerity if it did not exist. He also received 'very surprising responses on the part of government to food banks'.
The UN rapporteur, who has no direct power but is considered an influential voice, is expected to issue a short report on Friday before a fuller report to the UN Human Rights Council in June. Koldo Casla, policy director of Just Fair, said the visit had 'created unprecedented interest' and that Alston had been 'a loudspeaker for hundreds of people that are too often paid very little attention to'.
