A scathing UN report has criticised the UK's austerity policy, calling it misogynistic and cruel.
The UN's rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, visited the UK and met with ministers and people affected by austerity before coming to his conclusion, The Telegraph reports.
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His report said the government's system of austerity, and particularly universal credit, put women on the back foot and lead to increased poverty.
The system of universal credit merges six payments into a singular benefit. Mr Alston accused it of plunging people into misery and despair. He said single women looking after children had been hit the hardest by the Conservative Party's "commitment to achieving radical social re-engineering".
"There is a really remarkable gender dimension to many of the reforms," he said at a briefing.
"If you got a group of misogynists together in a room and said, 'How can we make a system that works for men but not women?' they wouldn't have come up with too many other ideas than what's in place."
According to the report 14 million people are living in poverty in the UK, with 1.5 million classed as destitute and unable to afford essentials.
Mr Alston said the system of paying only one benefit into a household made it harder for women to leave relationships that did not work or were abusive.
He claims to have put this to former Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, who resigned over Brexit earlier this week, and she did not see the issue.
"Well if they're having problems, they should get counselling and if things are really bad, they should leave," Mr Alston claimed she said.
The UK government has disagreed with the report's findings, saying there are now fewer people living in poverty thanks to its policies.
"We are absolutely committed to helping people improve their lives while providing the right support for those who need it," a spokesperson told the Guardian.
Newshub.
