This article is part of a blog series published in partnership with Academics Stand Against Poverty UK, as they develop their third manifesto audit in the build up to the 2024 election. They will analyse the policies in the manifestos in relation to poverty to asses how confident they are that they will enable British society to flourish.
As the long run-up to the next election begins, political and public debate will increasingly be caught up in the political theatre and drama which can distract from the actual issues that matter to the electorate.
We enter the election period at a time when the cost-of-living crisis continues to be a lived struggle for the majority. Increasing numbers of local authorities are declaring themselves effectively bankrupt with unknown longer-term consequences for local services. Poverty and the struggle to make ends meet will overshadow this election.
Attempting to cut through the political noise, and replicating success audits conducted in 2015 and 2017, Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) UK will be drawing together thoughtful expert analysis of the political party manifestos to explore the challenges of poverty and inequality, the parties’ policies to address these challenges and what their pledges mean for the country.
During previous elections, ASAP UK has brought together a range of academics across several institutions to develop a framework for assessing the manifesto commitments in terms of their ability to address (or potentially worsen) poverty in the UK. This peer-reviewed analysis feeds into a scoring system which can produce an accessible analysis for voters as they make their decision going into the ballot box.
The audit is guided by a broader framework developed around the notion of flourishing. ASAP UK believes that everyone should be living a fulfilling life which goes beyond mere existence. Drawing broadly on the notion of Aristotle’s eudaimonia, flourishing refers to the needs which must be met consistently, not just to ensure biological survival, but to include meaningful relationships and a feeling of safety both individually and as a society. Essentially, if our needs are unmet, we experience poverty across all aspects of our lives.
Political parties play a fundamental role in enabling a flourishing life. The rhetoric and policies that come from their manifestos, political speeches and public debates influence public attitudes, the ideas and values which shape our social institutions which are vital to supporting and securing our needs as members of society, and society as a whole.
Recent analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) demonstrates that:
Around one in five of our population (20 per cent) were in poverty in 2020/21 – that’s 13.4 million people. Of these:
- 7.9 million were working-age adults
- 3.9 million were children
- 1.7 million were pensioners
While these figures represent a reduction in poverty compared to 2019/20, this shift was largely due to changes in incomes, the policy choices of governments and a drop in the relative poverty line. Yet the data suggests that living standards have likely fallen. The tracking data held by the JRF suggests that, in October 2022:
- around six in ten low-income households were not able to afford an unexpected expense;
- over half were in arrears;
- around a quarter were using credit to pay essential bills;
- over seven in ten families were going without essentials.
We have decades of research which demonstrates the long-term consequences of poverty. Poor health consequences, limited education outcomes and shorter life expectancy are just some of the ways in which poverty erodes the quality of life and prohibits flourishing. We all have one life, one chance to flourish and achieve our utmost potential. We need policies which commit seriously to tackling hardship, promoting flourishing and creating the institutions best able to eradicate poverty for all.
Too often the claim that work is the best route out of poverty has proven to be insufficient. Work, while important, sidelines the wider plethora of services that are needed to ensure all can live a good life. The data illustrating levels of in-work poverty for over a decade should be sufficient to disabuse people that work alone is the answer. If more evidence is needed, then the domino effect stretching back to 2008 – financial crisis, Brexit, COVID-19, war in Ukraine, cost-of-living crisis – should demonstrate that poverty is not simply a reflection of work ethic. Poverty is fundamentally tied to the wider structure of our society.
And this is why the manifesto audit is essential. We need to scrutinise the policies of political parties to evaluate how effective, or not, they will be in addressing deep-seated inequalities, the structure of the economy and welfare services and, ultimately, the political choices to intervene and tackle poverty.
While we prepare to conduct the audit of party manifestos in the lead up to the 2024 election we are also launching this blog series, in partnership with Policy Press, to bring together academics insights regarding:
- the main challenges we need the manifestos to address;
- the policies we might hope to see – and how they can tackle persisting poverty;
- and how, if at all, the new manifestos differ from those of the previous election.
Our analysis will cut through an array of policy issues, from social security, housing and migration to the environmental challenges and broader concerns with human rights. ASAP UK is determined to provide not only the audit for this election, but ongoing, high-quality analysis from leading academics to offer the broadest range of analysis accessible to citizens, to help inform their decisions when we get to election day.
Dr Lee Gregory is Chair of Trustees for ASAP UK and Associate Professor in Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. He writes on behalf of Trustees of ASAP UK. ASAP is an international network of chapters of which ASAP UK is one of 18 chapters globally. The full framework and previous audits can be found at http://ukpovertyaudit.org/
Read all the articles in the Academics Stand Against Poverty blog series here.
Image credit: Contributor: Robert Morris via Alamy Stock Photo