Paul Morrison introduces our Essentials Guarantee campaign, breaking down the current low rates of benefit and imagining what the way forward could look like. You might imagine that the rates of Universal Credit (UC) were calculated carefully, perhaps using a formula that looks at criteria such …
The Spring Statement – or how not to have “a politics characterised by listening, kindness and truthfulness”*
Listening to the Spring Statement, it's not hard to see why people are disillusioned with politics. The Chancellor began by saying how wonderful the economy was and how everything was going to plan while the Shadow Chancellor responded with how terrible the economy was and how there was no plan. …
Will anything other than might be right?
"Enduring solutions will not rest on the logic of force, but on the foundations of justice, equality and the right to self-determination." (Statement from Palestinian Christian leaders in 2025)1. Current news headlines illustrate that we are witnessing the clash of two fundamentally opposed …
Child poverty: a step forward
JPIT’s Paul Morrison explains the context for the response from faith leaders to the government’s child poverty strategy Today faith leaders have responded to last week’s child poverty strategy. The headline from the strategy, and the headline from the leaders’ response, is the abolition of the …
Response to the Budget
Paul Morrison, Public Issues Advisor for the Joint Public Issues Team, looks at how the Budget will impact poverty, inequality and other justice issues. A Budget that will reduce child poverty The Chancellor has announced that from April next year the two-child limit on benefits will be …
We could reduce child poverty by half a million
Child poverty has steadily increased over the past 15 years, but it is clear how that trend can be reversed. It requires government and institutions to prioritise poverty reduction, and a significant financial investment in measures that will have an impact. In the autumn, the Government will …
Insulting the disabled…again
Last month the Leader of the Opposition gave a speech about disability benefits that resurrected the discredited “Skiver v Striver” rhetoric of 15 years ago. This time it is “Makers v Takers”, a slogan which she did not make, but took from US debates in the early 2010s. This pattern of …
Eight million people are excluded from the electoral register. What can we do about it?
The Electoral Commission estimates that eight million people are missing from the electoral register. The people missing are disproportionately those who are young, private renters and from minority ethnic communities. This is because the registration system was designed in a way which makes it …
Response to the Spring Statement
JPIT's Paul Morrison responds to the Spring Statement 2025 Poverty and inequality in the UK are on track to increase. Rather than addressing these concerning trends, which cause so much harm to people’s lives, the measures announced in this Spring Statement will exacerbate them. The international …
Repeatedly taking the easy choice on welfare
JPIT's Paul Morrison responds to potential disability benefit cuts. In the November 2024 budget the Chancellor decided to keep the last government’s £3bn of disability benefit cuts which were pencilled in for the next three years. This was called a “difficult decision”. Over the past week, the …