The United Nations has decided to launch an investigation into the UK’s poverty and human rights record in pursuance of identifying the impact of austerity policies set up by Theresa May and David Cameron.
The expert who will lead the inquiry is the UN’s specialist on poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston. Prof Alston launched a similar inquiry in the US earlier this month where he found that the US government’s policies for the poor as “cruel”.
The investigation will be the first of its kind in Western Europe since the one in Ireland in 2011 and it has been planned to take place in autumn 2018.
Prof Alston has also covered various areas with regards to the implementation of poverty and human rights policies around the globe including China and Saudi Arabia.
Alston has claimed that the UK has faced a great deal of budget cuts over the past few years especially during the period when the coalition government was in power and since the Conservatives took over as well.
When asked about the challenges facing the UK currently, he stated that the UK is facing completely different issues than the US when he remarked that Trump’s policies were used to “maximise inequality”.
He continued:
“In the UK, things are at a different place where there is no great budget surplus to be mobilised. Welfare cuts have taken place but there is now an interesting debate on whether they have gone too far and what measures need to be taken to shore up the NHS and other programmes.”
