Webb Memorial Trust poverty talk

**Warwick HUB hosted a talk on ‘Poverty and Inequality in the UK’ from Barry Knight, Principal Advisor to the Webb Memorial Trust, on October 25 2012.**

Maahwish Mirza, a second-year English Literature student and Ethnic Minorities Officer at Warwick’s Students’ Union, organised the talk after reading a February 2012 supplement in the _New Statesman_ from the Webb Memorial Trust, a copy of which was distributed to attendees.

She wanted to enable the Webb Memorial Trust to speak because the central cause of poverty is “skirted over” in mainstream politics, while benefits claimants and the lack of individual work ethic are falsely presented as the causes of social inequality in the UK.

Tackling this representation of the causes of poverty formed the basis of Mr Knight’s presentation. He argued culpability for poverty lies with society, not the individual, and that structural and economic management as well as tackling unregulated capital is the key to tackling UK poverty.

Mr Knight argued for ending the culture of blame surrounding benefit claimants and an end to the scapegoating of ‘the poor’. He also referenced ‘The Spirit Level’, agreeing with its assessment that social ills are caused by inequality within society, while the aggregate economic success of a country is less significant than is commonly assumed.

Mr Knight focused his talk on the research currently underway on behalf of the Webb Memorial Trust and did not speculate on its conclusions or policy recommendations.

Mariam Tafsiri, a second-year PPE student, argued that the Webb Memorial Trust had “little to offer as a solution” although the “analysis and diagnosis of the problem of poverty was spot on.”

She also remarked that it would be “interesting” to see how the Webb Memorial Trust’s policy differed from government policy on welfare in five years time.