Speaking after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's mini-budget, Clare Lorraine Phipps from Taxpayers Against Poverty, said:

"Today is International Day for the End of Poverty, yet what is absent from the Chancellor's statement are measures to support those who are at the sharp edge of the cost of living crisis.

"While the reversal of tax cuts for the wealthiest are welcome, we need the government to announce today that they will be increasing benefits in line with inflation so that those with the least do not face a cut in their real incomes. We also need confirmation that when the Energy Support Scheme ends it will be replaced with sufficient support appropriately targeted. It is essential that we do not return to austerity at a time when services have already been cut to the bone. Rather than cutting services, the government should be looking at further windfall taxes on energy firms and taxing wealth as our colleagues at Tax Justice UK have argued. 

"We are one of the richest countries in the world - there is no need for anyone to be living in poverty. We are campaigning with our sister organisation Compassion in Politics for socioe-conomic rights - decent housing, services and enough to live on - to be enshrined in law. This measure would make it a legal requirement for the government to ensure no-one in the UK lives in poverty. 

"On today and every day we would like to thank our supporters for sharing our vision for the eradication of poverty and working with us to achieve it."