LONDON, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) envoy to Britain on Friday said that 1.5 million British people are living in deep poverty.
UN envoy Philip Alston said in his report that about 14 million people are living in poverty in Britain, with 1.5 million of those being unable to afford basic essentials, a group of people he called "destitute".
Alston said that child poverty could rise by 7 percent over the eight years from 2015 to 2022, possibly taking the child to 40 percent.
Alston was critical in his report of the government's policy of austerity, adopted in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis at a time when the government's borrowing was very high as it struggled with lower tax revenues and higher expenditures on social security.
"It is patently unjust and contrary to British values that so many people are living in poverty," Alston said.
Other criticisms Alston had were aimed at tax policy, funding for the National Health Service (NHS), education and municipal services where central government support budgets have been cut since 2010.
Catherine Colebrook, IPPR, chief economist and associate director for economic policy at London-based social policy think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said poverty was a problem in Britain, despite the country's status as a developed nation and on some measures as the fifth largest national economy in the world.
Colebrook told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that she did not think Alston's report was a harsh judgment.
"No, I don't think so. Alston's assessment was made on the basis of a comprehensive look at the evidence, combined with a tour of the UK regions and nations to better-understand how poverty manifests itself in the UK in 2018," Colebrook said.
"It's disturbing that we won't cast a critical eye on the level of poverty in this country more often ourselves," she added.
Alston visited nine British cities and consulted widely with experts in the field of social policy to complete his 24-page report which will be delivered to the UN in Geneva early next year.
