Sun 9 Feb 2020 13.51 EST
Last modified on Sun 9 Feb 2020 13.54 EST
Imogen West-Knights is rightly sceptical of the government’s “levelling up” mantra (Johnson’s vow to ‘level up’ is as meaningless as it sounds, Journal, 6 February). If the government genuinely wants to “level up” rather than “sidestep the thorny issue of gaping economic inequalities”, it could make a start by raising working-age and children’s social security benefits by more than inflation this year following the four-year freeze.
You also report (6 February) the National Institute of Economic Research’s warning that it would take Boris Johnson more than two full terms to level up the economy. Important as investment in disadvantaged areas is, it will take time for their inhabitants to feel the benefits. An above-inflation benefits increase would have an immediate effect and, as the money is likely to be spent quickly and locally, would boost those same local economies. At the same time, it would help the many on low incomes living elsewhere.
Rejection of the widespread calls for an above-inflation increase would mean that a loss of over 6% in real terms would be baked into already low benefit rates in perpetuity, leaving the millions who have borne the main burden of austerity through a raft of social security cuts struggling to get by. Yet so far there has been no hint that the promise to “level up” has any implications for social security policy.
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
• Your article (Number of people who work but are living in poverty hits record high, 7 February) highlights some deeply worrying statistics published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The report’s analysis of disabled people in work is bleak – disabled people are more likely to be low paid, and are even paid less than non-disabled people with the same qualification level, including a degree. In 2017-18, some 50% of working-age disabled people were not working, compared with 18% of non-disabled people.
We know from research done in 2016 by the housing association Habinteg and the Papworth Trust that disabled people living in inaccessible homes are four times more likely to be unemployed than those in suitable housing, therefore access to better housing is vital. The government must ensure that all new homes are built to accessible and adaptable standards, and must instruct local authorities to set ambitious targets for the homes disabled people need.
If the government is serious about supporting more disabled people into work, then this is the crucial first step.
Celia Thomas
Liberal Democrat spokesperson on disability, House of Lords
• Polly Toynbee (Tory plans to ‘level up’ the north are laughably inadequate, 7 February) demonstrates the inadequacy of Tory plans to “level up” the extensive damage their policies have inflicted on the poorest areas in country. One of the most shocking and disturbing consequences of the £12bn cuts in benefits is the rise in infant mortality in the most deprived fifth of English local authorities between 2014 and 2017 reported in a study published in BMJ Open in 2019. Overall, from 2014 to 2017 there were a total of 572 excess infant deaths compared with what would have been expected based on historical trends. The authors estimate that each 1% increase in child poverty was associated with an extra 5.8 infant deaths per 100,000. There was no significant change in the pre-existing trend in the most affluent areas.
Professor Emeritus Nick Spencer
Leamington Spa
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