Biggest political move by Church of England in a generation as bishops attack the prime minister's welfare reforms
Britain’s leading bishops denounce David Cameron’s welfare reforms for creating a “national crisis”.
In an unprecedented attack on the Tory-led Coalition, 27 Anglican bishops and 16 other clergy accuse the Tory-led coalition of creating hardship and hunger.
For so many leading members of the clergy to launch such a direct attack on the Government of the day is unprecedented.
This is the most significant political move by the Church of England since its Faith in the City report in the 1980s attacking Margaret Thatcher’s cuts.
It underlines the deep concern felt by the churches over the Coalition’s brutal welfare cuts which have left so many facing hunger and hardship.
In a letter to the Daily Mirror, 27 Anglican bishops and 16 other faith leaders say the PM has a “moral duty” to act on the growing number going hungry.
The intervention comes after Britain’s leading Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the Government’s benefit cuts were a “disgrace.”
A rattled Mr Cameron hit back by claiming the reforms were a “moral mission” and gave people “hope”.
But he is now also at war with the Church of England and other faith groups including the Quakers and Methodists.
In their letter the bishops say “Britain is the world’s seventh largest economy and yet people are going hungry.”
It continues: “We must, as a society, face up to the fact that over half of people using foodbanks have been put in that situation by cut backs to and failures in the benefit system, whether it be payment delays or punitive sanctions.”
Signed by 27 of the 59 Church of England bishops, it notes that half a million people have visited foodbanks since last Easter, while 5,500 people were admitted to hospital in the UK for malnutrition last year.
The church leaders also challenge Mr Cameron’s claim that his reforms are part of a “moral mission.”
Read more...
In an unprecedented attack on the Tory-led Coalition, 27 Anglican bishops and 16 other clergy accuse the Tory-led coalition of creating hardship and hunger.
For so many leading members of the clergy to launch such a direct attack on the Government of the day is unprecedented.
This is the most significant political move by the Church of England since its Faith in the City report in the 1980s attacking Margaret Thatcher’s cuts.
It underlines the deep concern felt by the churches over the Coalition’s brutal welfare cuts which have left so many facing hunger and hardship.
In a letter to the Daily Mirror, 27 Anglican bishops and 16 other faith leaders say the PM has a “moral duty” to act on the growing number going hungry.
The intervention comes after Britain’s leading Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the Government’s benefit cuts were a “disgrace.”
A rattled Mr Cameron hit back by claiming the reforms were a “moral mission” and gave people “hope”.
But he is now also at war with the Church of England and other faith groups including the Quakers and Methodists.
In their letter the bishops say “Britain is the world’s seventh largest economy and yet people are going hungry.”
It continues: “We must, as a society, face up to the fact that over half of people using foodbanks have been put in that situation by cut backs to and failures in the benefit system, whether it be payment delays or punitive sanctions.”
Signed by 27 of the 59 Church of England bishops, it notes that half a million people have visited foodbanks since last Easter, while 5,500 people were admitted to hospital in the UK for malnutrition last year.
The church leaders also challenge Mr Cameron’s claim that his reforms are part of a “moral mission.”
Read more...
