FRIDAY saw a devastating critique of the UK Government’s economic and welfare policies and the hardship, poverty and devastation they have caused.

Following a 10-day investigative visit to the UK’s four nations, professor Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, presented his initial findings to the world. These included: UK Government welfare cuts are “unnecessarily inflicting great misery” across the UK; the overall social safety net is being “systematically dismantled”; changes are being driven by “radical social engineering” and not by concern for people and communities; and welfare cuts are “punitive, mean-spirited and often callous” and will lead to an increase in child poverty.

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The results of which, Alston said, were creating misery and fear among the people he met. Alston is particularly scathing about Universal Credit, which he calls “Universal Discredit”. The DWP, he says, is more concerned with “making economic savings and sending messages about lifestyles” than “responding to the multiple needs of those living with a disability, job loss, housing insecurity, illness, and the demands of parenting”.

This is damning, and I would expect any government to change course immediately in response to such direct criticism. But as the rapporteur says, the UK Government is “determinedly in a state of denial” – even in the face of strong evidence from the most respected charities, parliamentary committees, devolved governments and independent bodies about the great misery being caused by welfare cuts.

The scale of the cuts is enormous. Scottish Government research published last month suggested that in 2020-21, social security spending in Scotland will have been reduced by £3.7 billion compared to 2010-11.

As the rapporteur noted, the Scottish Government has fought endlessly to try and see these cuts reversed, therefore minor tweaks announced in the Autumn Budget were extremely disappointing. Changes to Universal Credit work allowances reverse only around half of the cuts made in 2015 and do nothing to improve the incomes of many people.

The benefit freeze is also set to continue. On its own, this will lead to a £370 million cut in spending in Scotland by 2020-21. Alston notes that the Chancellor could have ended the freeze but instead chose to “help those better off”. When you combine the freeze with the benefit cap, the appalling two-child limit and an unnecessarily punitive sanctions regime, it is easy to see why the UN special rapporteur is so scathing and calls on the UK Government to urgently change direction.

I was struck by the rapporteur’s comment to the media that he was “shocked” that the Scottish Government had to fund mitigation measures to protect people from UK Government policies.

This is exactly what we have done since 2013, this year spending

£125m on just that. But of course we cannot fill the £3.7bn gap in social security spending. This is equivalent to three-times our annual police budget or the entire annual budget of both NHS Glasgow and NHS Lothian.

Wherever we can, we are taking a different approach. Alston mentioned Scotland’s ambitious work on tackling poverty. The Scottish Parliament has set targets in law to eradicate child poverty by 2030. We’ve backed this up with a concrete plan of action and are already making progress.

He commented warmly on the progress made in Scotland to establish a social security system which treats people with dignity and respect and notes our programmes do not involve sanctions. Scotland’s new system is founded on the explicit recognition, in legislation, that social security is a human right. In stark contrast to the UK Government, Scottish ministers will be held to robust account for meeting human rights standards by an independent scrutiny body.

The UN Special Rapporteur says that “UK policies and drastic cuts to social support are entrenching high levels of poverty and inflicting unnecessary misery”. I couldn’t agree more. In 2016, a previous UN inquiry found evidence that the same policies amount to “grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s human rights. There is no evidence that the UK Government is listening. Repeated warnings are being ignored.

Scotland is already taking a different path but, with additional powers, we could do so much more.

Finally, a word on Brexit. Alston warns that Brexit has already increased essential costs for those on low incomes by £400 per year and is going to make poverty much worse across the UK. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report states if benefits are not uprated adequately to account for inflation after Brexit, up to 900,000 more people could fall into poverty.

On Brexit, on welfare cuts and the roll-out of Universal Credit, it is still not too late for the UK Government to change course and stop more children being pushed into poverty. This situation, as Alston rightly says, is “not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one”.