Report on UK Poverty by UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

That the Parliament notes the publication of the final report on the visit to the UK by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Phillip Alston; understands that the report is highly critical of the UK Government's record on poverty, and in particular, of its changes to the reserved social security system; notes with regret that these changes have meant that "much of the glue that has held British society together since the Second World War has been deliberately removed and replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos”; understands that the report draws attention to the highly gendered nature of social security changes, which have “too often perpetuated rather than tackled the gendered aspects of poverty”; accepts that the report highlights that the UK Government has "remained determinedly in a state of denial" about the impacts of its policy changes, including on food insecurity and homelessness; considers that the report is positive about the Scottish Government’s partial mitigation of welfare reforms, but that it also notes that “profound poverty” persists in Scotland and that the Scottish Government must do more to ensure that the right to social security contained in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 is enforceable, and believes that the report demonstrates that radical action on poverty is urgently required.