Only things being levelled up by the Tories are the food banks.

[SamBally]

The Government’s levelling up agenda consists entirely of creating bigger and more numerous food banks.

New data reveals that ‘Levelling Up’ – a cornerstone of the 2019 Conservative manifesto – applies only to food banks.

“My department is working tirelessly to ensure that Britain has the best food banks in the world,” said Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove in a slightly off Geordie accent.

“I will not sleep until every state-school educated citizen gets the top-quality food bank they deserve.

“Metaphorically, obviously – I’ll actually fall asleep pretty quickly once the coke wears off…”

Tory councillor Simon Williams has been enjoying the results of all this levelling up.

“One of the joys of my job is being able to open brand new food banks,” he said.

“Just this morning I was the star of the show at a ceremony in Dartford, opening a state of the art food bank facility.

“I swung a bottle of ketchup at the wall, which smashed in a most satisfying manner.

“‘I declare this food bank open!’ I shouted, as the hordes of poor people waiting to come inside admired my importance.

“Serendipitously, the first beggar through the door wanted some ‘tomato sauce’. I pointed at the remains of the ceremonial bottle and jovially told them to fill their boots.

“I was filled with an almost overwhelming sense of pride as I watched them scrabble around on all fours, licking the floor and trying not to cut their mouth too badly on the shards of glass.

“This is exactly why I became a Tory.”

 

[TwoWhalesInAPool]

68,000 pensioners and 25,000 working-age people who died from any cause, died in poverty.,

Horrific data out this morning

• 100,000 deaths a year in the UK linked to poverty

• 1/3 of deaths among those of working age are in poverty.

Refusal to tax wealth is a moral crime

Loughborough University study
Tens of thousands of people die in poverty each year in the UK, with working-age adults are twice as likely to die below the poverty line as pensioners, according to new research.

The Loughborough University study was commissioned by Marie Curie and estimates suggest that in 2019, the latest year for which data is available, 93,000 people died having experienced poverty in the final year of their life - around one in seven of the total number of people who died that year.

This comprised of 68,000 pensioners and 25,000 working-age people who died from any cause.

More than 28% of working-age adults who died were estimated to have been in poverty, compared to 13% of those who died having reached pension age.

The research also suggests that women, parents with dependent children and people from ethnically diverse communities are more vulnerable to poverty toward the end of life.

Experts used a definition of poverty from the Social Metrics Commission, which takes into account "inescapable costs", such as childcare.

Marie Curie said the figures, which are the first of their kind, are "shocking" and "nothing short of a national indignity" and is calling for the state pension to be given to dying people of working age so they do not miss out.