Hedge fund managers working in the heart of London “have had enough” of stepping over homeless people when they leave the office, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has suggested.
Jeremy Corbyn’s closest ally said there has been “a mood change” in the country and that both rich and poor alike were behind Labour’s “full frontal assault” on the government’s new Universal Credit benefits system, which he claims is driving up levels of poverty and rough sleeping.
The party has launched a review of the flagship welfare reform and does not rule out scrapping it altogether, despite admitting that such a move would be “complex”.
McDonnell told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool that hedge fund managers, who he met as part of a drive to engage businesspeople with the party’s left wing programme, had intimated they were disturbed by the rise in homelessness gripping the UK.
It is reported to have doubled since 2010.
“I think there is a mood change now where people have had enough,” McDonnell said.
“I have meetings with asset managers in the City of London and all the rest of it – these are some of the wealthiest people in the country, or at least represent some of the wealthiest people in the country.
“They don’t want to come out of their office and have to step over a homeless person. It is so distressing for people.
“We had a homeless person die within feet of the doors of the House of Commons a few months ago. No-one wants to live in a society like that.”
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust foodbanks organisation, said according to their research there had been a “horrifying” 13% increase in the number of people needing food parcels last year.
She added that there had been a 52% increase in areas where Universal Credit had been rolled out for 12 months or more. The system is currently being implemented in Liverpool.
“For food banks that is an incredible increase in the number of people coming to them for help,” Revie said.
According to the charity, the immediate wait for an initial Universal Credit payment is causing mental and physical ill health and that 70% of those left waiting had got into debt.
Revie added 8% did not have enough to get by, even when they had claimed the benefit.
McDonnell said the “just about managing” were “just about surviving” as he referenced a study by Liverpool University which mapped how, since the Work Capability Assessment – which many people have to undergo before being judged eligible for Universal Credit – had been brought in, there had been 600 suicides associated with the policy.
“It isn’t just brutal, it is killing people,” he said. “There is a sense of urgency now that we have to do something as soon as we get into government.”
The government called the university study “wholly misleading” and has previously insisted that Universal Credit, which merges six benefits for working-age people into one payment, gets more people into work and simplifies the benefits system.