Poverty envoy says callous policies driven by political desire for social re-engineering• ‘I’m scared to eat sometimes’• Women reveal impact of cuts• Children tell UN: ‘It’s unfair’

Summary of Philip Alston’s report which says austerity has inflicted misery on UK citizens

The UN report is harshly critical of government policy, saying it’s been driven by social re-engineering rather than economicsBritain’s government has today been held up in front of the world and comprehensively damned for the misery and chaos it has inflicted on its own people. Its defining policy of austerity is revealed to the international community as callous, as ineffective, and even as un-British. These judgments do not come from some well-known foe of Theresa May and David Cameron – but from a UN envoy.Related: UK austerity has inflicted 'great misery' on citizens, UN says Continue reading...

Sterling drops to about $1.27 against the dollar and falls by 1.8% against the euro

Letters: Readers on the visit to the UK by Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, to examine rising levels of poverty and hardship across the UK after a decade of cuts to public servicesOutrage, anger, despair, shame, impotence: the feelings aroused by Aditya Chakrabortty’s article (It took a UN envoy to hear how austerity is destroying lives, 14 November). The truths consequent on the savage, unnecessary, uncaring cuts to public services are not hidden away but confront us daily. Welfare benefits slashed, millions dependent on food banks. Libraries, museums, childcare centres, youth clubs, swimming pools consigned to the scrapheap; road repairs and park budgets cut, bus routes terminated. In Darley Dale a helpful notice tells us that the lavatory is closed and the nearest one is 2.1 miles away.The true story is that of a government that has chosen private profit over civic services, while it wreaks an assault on the services that make towns and communities good places to live. In a 2015 Guardian article about benefits, sanctions and food banks, Ken Loach called for “public rage” and spoke about “conscious cruelty”. Continue reading...

Volumes fall 0.5% in October as gloom engulfs high street amid growing jitters over EU divorceRetail sales fell in October, adding to the gloom on the British high street as official figures showed that shoppers kept a tight rein on spending amid growing Brexit uncertainty.Sales volumes dropped by 0.5% from September, in contrast to forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists for a rise of 0.2%.Related: Pound tumbles as UK markets suffer Brexit deal volatility Continue reading...

Pound suffers heavy sell-off after Dominic Raab and Esther McVey resign from the cabinet over Theresa May’s Brexit plan

Chequers-style deal would lift UK growth rate beyond 1.5% it expects for 2019, says fundPhilip Hammond’s claim that the UK economy can expect a bounce following parliamentary backing for a Chequers-style deal has won the backing of the International Monetary Fund.The Washington-based organisation said there would be a jump in consumer spending and business investment following a deal that secured frictionless trade with the European Union, lifting the UK’s growth rate beyond the 1.5% it expects for 2019. Continue reading...

Europe’s largest economy hit by weaker trade position and lower consumer spendingFears for the health of the eurozone economy have intensified after Germany, the single currency’s powerhouse, suffered its first contraction in more than three years.Tough emission tests affecting the country’s strategically important automotive industry, lower consumer spending, and weaker exports triggered by rising global protectionism resulted in the economy shrinking by 0.2% in the third quarter of 2018. Continue reading...

A rise had been predicted and ONS says cost of fuel pushed up cost of livingUK inflation was unchanged at 2.4% in October after a rise in the cost of petrol and utility bills was offset by falling food prices.City economists had predicted an increase to 2.5% but a price war on the high street, especially among food retailers, drove down the cost of the weekly shop and held back consumer inflation. Continue reading...

Philip Alston’s inquiry into poverty in the UK has heard a shocking truth that British politicians refuse to acknowledgeThe room is packed, people spilling out of the doors. The atmosphere crackles. So it should, for this is what it feels like when an entire society is held to account. Over 12 days, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights is touring not Bangladesh nor Sudan but the UK. And what Philip Alston has discovered in the fifth-richest country on Earth should shame us all. From Newcastle to Jaywick, he has uncovered stories of families facing homelessness, of people too scared to eat, of those on benefits contemplating suicide.Related: 'A political choice': UN envoy says UK can help all who hit hard times Continue reading...

Christine Lagarde praises rebel technology as ‘safe, cheap, and potentially semi-anonymous’Governments should consider offering their own cryptocurrencies to prevent the systems becoming havens for fraudsters and money launderers, Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund said referring to the fast-growing fintech industry.Lagarde said central banks had to work quickly to establish digital cash for burgeoning networks of private financial transactions or risk their mushrooming into trading networks that were inherently unstable.Related: Time to regulate bitcoin, says Treasury committee report Continue reading...

Five Star Movement/League government to stick with big-spending strategy in bid to fulfil election promisesThe Italian government has defied a request to present a revised draft budget for 2019 to the European commission, as it pursues its big-spending strategy.Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister and leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which is ruling in coalition with the far-right League, said the government was committed to maintaining its deficit target of 2.4% but it would move forward with plans to cut taxes, introduce a universal basic income and lower the retirement age.Related: Italy’s battle with Brussels is about more than money | Maurizio Molinari Continue reading...

Bafflement and derision in capital as US president in spat with Macron slams wine trade tariffs as ‘not fair’A tweet by Donald Trump attacking the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and threatening a wine war with France, has left a sour taste in Paris. In a series of online comments lambasting Macron over nationalism and world wars, the US president rated the wine trade between France and the US as “not fair”.On Trade, France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S. The problem is that France makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France, and charges big Tariffs, whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines, and charges very small Tariffs. Not fair, must change!EU tariffs on wine are roughly 9p a bottle. Get a grip. https://t.co/0tkjV5neammy dude tariffs on US wines sold to France is a tax on audacity https://t.co/QKuQAAdSHR Continue reading...

Banking Standards Board tells MPs care for vulnerable customers continues to fall shortLittle progress has been made on fixing the UK’s poor banking culture, five years on from a major industry inquiry meant to address lender misconduct, the chair of the sector’s standards board has admitted.In the Banking Standards Board’s first appearance in front of the treasury committee, Dame Colette Bowe and CEO Alison Cottrell were pressed on whether anything had changed since a 2013 parliamentary commission condemned a culture in which poor standards were often considered normal.Related: NatWest customers dumped and left unable to pay bills Continue reading...

Saffron – the spice so expensive it’s called ‘red gold’ – has brought jobs and money to a region better known for coal mines and unemployment. Most are young people who were shut out of the job market during Greece’s economic downturn. They returned to the countryside to make a living off the land Continue reading...

Apple shares were down 5% after suppliers cut their forecasts, causing the tech-heavy Nasdaq and other tech stocks to fallStock markets in Asia have tumbled after a sharp selloff on Wall Street hit leading companies including Apple, Goldman Sachs and General Electric.With Monday’s losses, all three major Wall Street bourses erased the gains from their brief rally after the US congressional elections on 6 November.The prospect of Presidential Harassment by the Dems is causing the Stock Market big headaches!Related: Populists like Trump exacerbate rather than cure corruption | Barry Eichengreen Continue reading...

Buy or sell? No one knows, but an unpalatable Brexit deal and a falling pound could be toxic for a weak prime ministerIf Theresa May’s Brexit deal faces a humiliating defeat in the Commons – which is a popular opinion in the wake of Jo Johnson’s recent resignation – the currency markets don’t seem to have noticed. Sterling fell a little on Monday morning but the instinct to celebrate anything that looks like “progress” towards an agreed deal returned in the afternoon when Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, was reported to have said the main elements of an exit treaty are ready.One might say the market’s gentle to-and-fro is exactly what you’d expect. Investors are as confused as everybody else about the eventual outcome. And so they cling to the idea, which has been the consensus opinion for about a year, that some form of grand fudge will prevail in the end and that an orderly Brexit will happen next March. Continue reading...

The US president and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro will repopulate the swamp rather than drain itFollowing Emmanuel Macron’s election as president of France in May 2017, global elites breathed a sigh of relief. The populist wave, they reassured themselves, had crested. Voters had regained their sanity. Helped along by an electoral system in which the two leading candidates faced off in a second round, the “silent majority” had united behind the centrist candidate in the runoff.But now we have Brazil’s presidential election, in which Jair Bolsonaro, who displays the authoritarian, anti-establishment, and anti-other tendencies of a textbook populist, won decisively in the second round. A two-round electoral system in which the runoff pits a populist outsider against the last mainstream candidate standing is no guarantee, evidently, that the centre will hold.Related: Who deserves the credit for strong US economy? | Michael Boskin Continue reading...

If we want to create a truly fair tax system, we need to target the top 5%. Our forebears didn’t, the Tories won’t – but we will

Readers respond to news that the number of UK shops, pubs and restaurants lying empty has soared by more than 4,400 in the first six months of this yearThe plight of retailers dominates debate about the high street (Decline of the high street gathers pace as thousands of stores close, 9 November), although I can’t imagine what “decisive action … to support the battered high street” the government is expected to provide. Certainly there’s no reverse gear to address the commercial affects of a transformation in shopping habits, and high streets will inevitably have to shrink back to a core of retail activity.We need to look at this another way. Reviving high streets and town centres must be approached strategically and this begins with reinventing their role. We need high streets more than ever, but as places for people to meet and mingle throughout the day, not just to shop. Other uses must be mixed in: homes and live/work units, small offices and workshops, GP surgeries and dentists, barbers and hairdressers, youth clubs and day care centres, nurseries and primary schools, cinemas and music venues, cafes and pubs, street markets and pop-ups, independent and convenience shops. But not multiples of each. They need to have good transport links, free parking nearby, and become people-, bike- and buggy-friendly. In practice a degree of compulsory purchase might well be necessary to overcome the fragmented property ownership that inhibits any unified strategy. Continue reading...

Big tech companies are transforming societies – but their pitiful contributions aren’t enough to help governments adaptAlongside the results of last week’s US midterms came the passing of San Francisco’s Proposition C, a measure that will tax firms with an annual turnover of more than $50m (£44m) to raise an estimated $300m extra a year to help address homelessness. Last Tuesday, 60% of voters backed it: though the proposal is now snarled up in a constitutional dispute, its approval marks a big moment for a city whose housing crisis has become a matter of urgency.Given the huge concentration of technology giants in San Francisco, the debate quickly became a drama about big tech and its social responsibilities. The most high-profile supporters of the plan included Marc Benioff, the founder and CEO of the software company Salesforce, the single largest employer in the city, who donated $8m to get it on the statute book. He and his fellow campaigners were opposed by a gaggle of high-ups from such companies as Twitter, the ride-hailing giant Lyft, and the online payments service Stripe: wealthy people apparently doing their bit to resist a modest boost in help for the most vulnerable, in a place whose homelessness problem is at least partly traceable to the vast increases in property values caused by big tech’s local dominance.Related: Jeremy Corbyn: I'll tax tech firms to subsidise the BBC licence feeRelated: Tax big tech to help the homeless? San Francisco says yes after fierce campaign Continue reading...

US steel plants are meant to be booming in the wake of Trump’s tariffs – but tell that to production line workers in TrentonUnion member and mill operator Joey Casey, 40, wasn’t getting paid for the day, so he enjoyed lunch at Thatcher’s BBQ on the main square in Trenton, Georgia.Related: Trump hits China with $200bn of new tariffs as trade war escalatesWe made this company, we made it what it is, off our backs. I believe in the company stillRelated: Joseph Stiglitz: 'America should be a warning to other countries' Continue reading...

UK universities may soon struggle to repay billions in borrowing but the government can’t afford to let them failIt should be one of the bright spots in the British economy, one that shines through the Brexit gloom, but the higher education sector has become a pin on which balances the most enormous mountain of debt.And with speculation that institutions may be in financial trouble circulating around the sector, ministers are nervous.Related: We won't bail out failing universities, says higher education regulator Continue reading...

After a long recession, Italians have enjoyed three precious years of growth: but now the country is stalling again as its populist leaders wrangle with the EUGiuseppe Pasini, the president of Italian steelmaker Feralpi, based in the northern province of Brescia, has reason to be concerned. When Italy finally emerged from its crushing triple-dip recession in 2015, Brescia, an important European industrial hub some 50 miles east of Milan, enjoyed uninterrupted growth.But after the general elections in early March the economy started to slow, and in the most recent months it has ground to a halt. “After three years of optimum growth, between June and September our economy slowed to 0.1% [down from 1.3% in Q1 and 0.6% in Q2]. This came as a shock,” said Pasini, who also heads Brescia’s industrial association. “Businesses are worried; this slowdown could be particularly dangerous in 2019, not just for Brescia but for the entire country, as our region is considered a driver for the rest of the economy.”You can get away with a crisis until the moment the markets say enough is enough Continue reading...

UK GDP expanded by 0.6% in July-September, the best quarterly growth in almost two years, but economists see storm clouds ahead

Growth in the UK has been modest for a decade despite the colossal amount of stimulusNo chancellor can resist the idea of a good photo opportunity and Philip Hammond chose a brewery to mark the release of Britain’s latest growth figures. As he pulled a pint for the cameras, the chancellor’s message was that the strongest expansion in almost two years was proof of the underlying health of the economy. It was no such thing. This was a glass mainly full of froth.On the face of it, the economy has been picking up speed throughout 2018. Growth was 0.1% in the first quarter, 0.4% in the second quarter and has now hit 0.6% in the third quarter. But what actually happened was that bad weather in the first few months of the year artificially depressed activity and this weakness has been followed by a period of catch-up, especially in the construction sector. Continue reading...

July boost from World Cup and hot weather masks stagnation in following two monthsThe UK economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years during the third quarter, but has begun showing signs of a slowdown ahead of Brexit as more business investment decisions are put on hold.Related: Philip Hammond claims strong growth, but it's mostly froth Continue reading...

Economist Lord Skidelsky working with shadow chancellor on ‘practical possibilities of reducing the working week’John McDonnell, the Labour shadow chancellor, is in discussions with the distinguished economist Lord Skidelsky about an independent inquiry into cutting the working week, possibly from the traditional five days to four.The academic, who has a longstanding interest in the future of work, confirmed he was talking to the shadow chancellor about “the practical possibilities of reducing the working week”.Related: ‘Miserable staff don't make money’: the firms that have switched to a four-day weekRelated: 'No downside': New Zealand firm adopts four-day week after successful trial Continue reading...

European commission says UK will join Italy at foot of growth league even with a soft BrexitThe UK will sink to the bottom of the European economic growth league next year to join Italy as the slowest-growing economy in the EU, before falling further the year after to anchor the table alone, according to European commission forecasts.The EU’s gloomy predictions are based on a soft Brexit – meaning Britain is expected to lag behind all its EU peers even if Theresa May can reach a deal with Brussels before 29 March. Continue reading...

Readers respond to Polly Toynbee’s suggestion that the inability to raise tax has become Britain’s political diseasePolly Toynbee’s suggestion that higher taxes for all are inevitable (The refusal to raise tax has become our national disease, 6 November) ignores numerous different approaches, changes in priorities and potential savings that could mean we can all enjoy higher levels of investment in public services without raising taxes or increasing borrowing.In September, AAT published a short report highlighting £27bn of annual savings that could be made without raising taxes or increasing borrowing – by scrapping car tax and fuel duty and replacing it with a pay-as-you-drive system, by simplifying inheritance tax, and removing higher rate tax relief for pension contributions, to name just three of our proposals. Such changes might require politicians to tell some uncomfortable truths but, given that the outcome would be a simpler, fairer alternative to raising revenue, they are truths the electorate would be more likely to accept.

Tony Greaves says that only the Liberal Democrats can provide the radical and progressive politics that the UK badly needs; while Catherine Hand says they should never be forgiven for propping up the Tories’ savage austerity programmeRe What’s the point of the Lib Dems? (Journal, 7 November), I am tempted to reply: “Because we have never been in greater need of a Liberal party in the tradition of the New Liberals of a century ago – John Maynard Keynes, William Beveridge and Jo Grimond – to provide the core of the left-of-the-right liberal movement that can provide the radical and progressive alternative to backwards-looking Corbynism and the conservative (and worse) forces to the right.”But this kind of answer will bore those people who are looking for “something better, something new”, where clever but empty slogans and celebrity leadership offer new excitement and hope, however superficial and ephemeral. Yes, our present leadership (widely defined) seems incapable of providing the campaigning vim and inspiration we so desperately need, first to stop the dangerous nonsense of Brexit and then to build such a movement. And the present central party organisation, largely unaccountable to its members, sucks in resources yet seems to provide little in return of use for campaigning. Continue reading...

New EC growth forecasts warn that rising global uncertainty, international trade tensions and higher oil prices will weigh on Europe

From Brexit experts to Grenfell inspectors, non-government organisations are being told not to create ‘adverse publicity’

The cross-party education select committee firmly believes that if students are going to take on the big burden of a loan, there must surely be a good graduate job at the end of it, writes Robert Halfon MPI welcome the debate on what universities and higher education should be for, but Zoe Williams clearly needs to look at the education committee’s findings more closely rather than just highlighting one line out of one of my speeches (For Tories, the poor don’t need education, Journal, 6 November).Our report this week is focused on skills, social justice and good graduate outcomes. The fact is we have a huge skills deficit in our country, with the manufacturers organisation, the EEF, warning that almost three-quarters of businesses are concerned about finding workers with the skills they need. Yet just eight out of 24 Russell Group universities are offering degree apprenticeships. Continue reading...

Gridlock on Capitol Hill reduces chance of further fiscal stimulus and tax cuts, economists say

Analysts say a Chinese recession would only hurt the region. That may be wishful thinkingWhen China finally has its inevitable growth recession – which will almost surely be amplified by a financial crisis, given the economy’s massive leverage – how will the rest of world be affected? With US President Donald Trump’s trade war hitting China just as growth was already slowing, this is no idle question.Typical estimates, for example those embodied in the International Monetary Fund’s assessments of country risk, suggest an economic slowdown in China will hurt everyone. But the acute pain, according to the IMF, will be more regionally concentrated and confined than would be the case for a deep recession in the United States. Unfortunately, this might be wishful thinking.Related: Trump is reckless – but he knows he can't afford to antagonise China | Barry Eichengreen Continue reading...

Share price drops and chain announces founder Tim Martin is recovering from burst appendixJD Wetherspoon may raise its prices in the coming months as the pub chain warned of weaker trading, higher staff costs and said its founder and chairman, Tim Martin, would be working part time for several weeks as he recovers from a burst appendix.In a trading update for its first quarter, the pubs firm said that while it would not immediately pass on a higher wage bill to customers through price rises, it was under review. Continue reading...

Sellers are realising first offer they receive could well be their only one, analyst saysAnnual house price growth has fallen to its lowest rate in more than five years, according to Halifax.Across the UK, house prices increased by 1.5% annually in October, following a 2.5% annual increase in September, Halifax said.Related: Confidence in housing market 'collapsing', NAB survey says Continue reading...

IPPR launches world’s third biggest economics prize looking to restart UK growthOne of the biggest cash prizes in world economics has been launched to find “radical ideas” to reinvigorate the British economy.Launched against a backdrop of deep public distrust in politicians to revitalise the UK economy, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank has lined up an £150,000 prize fund to uncover fresh ideas. Continue reading...

Sterling rises on ‘thumbs-up’ hopes, as markets also wait for US midterm results

Bank had been accused by murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia of processing corrupt paymentsA Maltese bank at the heart of a money-laundering investigation has had its licence withdrawn by the European Central Bank.Pilatus Bank, which opened four years ago, was officially closed down several months after its Iranian chairman and owner, Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, was charged in the US in connection with money-laundering and fraud.Related: ​Bank criticised by Daphne Caruana Galizia under scrutiny in Brussels Continue reading...

Nicky Morgan says decision to delay cut in maximum stakes could cost 300 extra lives

UK companies report that new business has weakened as anxiety over Brexit and the global economic outlook rise

Bruno Le Maire says future of euro at stake as finance chiefs urge Rome to rethink policies

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Leader portrays China as champion of globalisation ahead of talks with US president at G20 – but Asian shares continue to slideXi Jinping has promised to lower import tariffs and improve access to the Chinese market in remarks meant to portray his country as a champion of globalisation as it remains locked in a trade war with the US.“Protectionism and unilateralism is rising. Multilateralism and the free trade system are under threat … China will not close its door to the world and will only become more and more open”, the Chinese president said on Monday at the beginning of a trade fair in Shanghai.Related: Despite rapid growth in wages, Trump should be concerned | Larry ElliottRelated: Shares soar as Trump hints at possible US-China trade dealBut the point is that even with a horrendous 15 years, China would still hit the $40trn import goal. So either Xi has made a pledge that is effectively meaningless; or planners are deeply bearish about the economy's prospects. I think we know which one it is. (/END) Continue reading...

Readers respond to Preston’s success, Channel 4’s move to Leeds and Simon Jenkins’ proposal to move parliament to the north with ideas for a new political landscapeChannel 4’s move to Leeds must be just the beginning (Channel 4 chooses Leeds as its new UK headquarters, 1 November). The ambitions of this public service broadcaster must go beyond relocating 200 staff up the M1. To make a truly significant contribution, it must act as an “anchor” of a fairer and more sustainable local economy.This means working with other anchor institutions like the city council, universities, NHS trusts and the police to pay fair wages, buy local, and to invest in the city and its people. By adopting this approach, Preston council and their anchors have generated £200m for the Lancashire economy. This strategy undoubtedly played a role in Preston being named as Britain’s most improved city. Continue reading...

In the lead-up to his Australian visit, the renowned economist warns of the triple threat of rising inequality, the undermining of democracy and climate changeIt’s a stark message from a Nobel-prize winning economist.“We were a very different country 40 years ago,” he says. “The downhill slide has been pretty fast. America, I think, should be an important warning to other countries not to take for granted their institutions. I worry that things in the United States could get much worse.”Most Americans want a higher minimum wage, they want gun control, they want access to healthcare … yet our democracy can’t deliver itRelated: Joseph Stiglitz on artificial intelligence: 'We’re going towards a more divided society'The magnitude of the dysfunction [on climate change] is unbelievable Continue reading...

Country’s leaders remain defiant but citizens fear of impact on healthcare and currencyIranians are bracing for the full force of US sanctions due to hit on Monday as the Trump administration reimposes an embargo on oil, the most stringent set of punitive measures since Washington withdrew from the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.The new sanctions, which also aim to cut off Iran’s banking sector from the global market, are timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 1979 storming by Iranian revolutionaries of the US embassy in Tehran, when angry students took 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days.Related: Iran sanctions: Khamenei says world opposes every Trump decision Continue reading...