My name is Alex, and it is a privilege to introduce myself as the newest member of the Joint Public Issues Team, as I join the team as Campaigns and Church Engagement Officer. As I begin, a chant is stuck in my head: ‘I believe that one fine day,That the power of love,Will rise above the …
Response to the Spring Statement
JPIT's Paul Morrison responds to the Spring Statement 2025 Poverty and inequality in the UK are on track to increase. Rather than addressing these concerning trends, which cause so much harm to people’s lives, the measures announced in this Spring Statement will exacerbate them. The international …
Faith leaders call for bold action on child poverty
Senior Faith leaders from across the country are joining forces today (Sunday 23 March 2025) in an urgent call for the government to be ‘bold and ambitious’ in its forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy. The call comes in an open letter to the co-chairs of the Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, …
Repeatedly taking the easy choice on welfare
JPIT's Paul Morrison responds to potential disability benefit cuts. In the November 2024 budget the Chancellor decided to keep the last government’s £3bn of disability benefit cuts which were pencilled in for the next three years. This was called a “difficult decision”. Over the past week, the …
Sustainable farming initiative suddenly suspended
In a guest blog, Sarah Hulme reports on the repercussions of a recent government decision to halt funding for sustainability initiatives on farms Without any warning, on 11 March, the government pulled the application process for a key environmental funding stream for farmers, saying the budget …
Response to international development budget cut
Baptist, Methodist, Church of Scotland and United Reformed Church leaders have responded to the Prime Minister’s announcement concerning further cuts to the international development budget: We deeply lament the government’s stated intention to make further cuts to the UK’s international …
Immigration: 1 in 12 Daily Telegraph headline writers can’t count*
*this headline, like the Telegraph’s recent front page on immigration, has no statistical basis. On 22 January, the Daily Telegraph tried to convince Londoners they were surrounded by potentially society wrecking illegal immigrants with the front-page headline “1 in 12 Londoners is an illegal …
COP29 – The Final Scores
What did COP29 achieve? The COP29 summit was a crucial test of global commitments to mobilise resources to avoid the severe damage to populations, species and eco-systems that would accompany a global warming above 1.5 degrees. COP29 failed this test. It identified only $300 billion …
COP29 negotiations overrun with much to do in the final hours.
A draft of the text commits to $1.3 trillion of climate finance per year by 2035, but it is shockingly weak on where this money will come from. Very little is pledged by developed countries. Chiara Martinelli, Director of Climate Action Network Europe, branded the $250 billion target inadequate: …
Engaging with the Assisted Dying debates faithfully, prayerfully and compassionately
“Death is the final taboo”; isn’t that what they say? Well, perhaps not so much at the moment. A new bill asking MPs to consider legalising assisted dying is coming before parliament for a debate on the 29th November. Despite being a private members bill (a bill that is not proposed by the …