When we cut 30 affordable homes to protect a distant view, we’re not preserving heritage, we’re preserving a housing crisis 👇

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of joining the first UK delegation of Emerging Leaders to the European Union in Brussels.

Apparently I’m a ‘future leader’ now, which is although flattering, is possibly a sign that Brexit did more damage than we thought…

In fact, we found that a regions disability prevalence is a very strong predictor a regions PIP claims, which means the system is targeting the areas it should

So what’s driving the rise in PIP cases? Despite the concerns that the benefit is not accurately targeting disabled people, we looked across the country and found that actually it is

One other way we can check if PIP claims are for the people it was intended for is by looking at the success rate for people applying for the benefit. If it’s rising this would indicate the system is becoming more lenient.

But we find it’s fairly static

But not all disabled people claim benefits - we estimate the take-up is likely under 50%

So while disability claims are rising faster than disability rates, this may simply reflect more disabled people fairly accessing support, not because there’s anything wrong with the system

Good social safety nets let countries have adaptable economies (which this research shows is good in the long run) because they support anyone caught out in the process.

The UK does it it the other way around, which I spoke about here👇

It’s a huge and unexpected honour to be given the chance to represent Brentford East 🌹

Even though PFI continues to have an expensive legacy in the public sector, these companies have made a billion in pre-tax profits from these contracts, with hundreds of millions given out in dividends.

So to fill the gap I sent a freedom of information request to every local authority and read each councils financial accounts. Here’s what I found:

First, there are over 800 schools built using PFI, often in inner-city areas

There are over 700 active PFI contracts today, with each one often covering multiply schools and hospitals. Here’s the timeline of how long each of these contracts last by each government department

Despite PFI being retired in 2018 due to the ‘fiscal risks’ it posed, we continue to live with the legacy as these contracts have a long way to go.

We’re only halfway there with repayments, and have over 150bn left to pay

This is spot on. People often assume welfare is a block to working, when in reality harsh systems like ours can make it harder to find a good long-term job

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...