Welfare cuts have fuelled rise of far right and populism, top UN expert says

[demmiblue]

Decades of efforts by mainstream politicians to roll back welfare programmes have given rise to an “extremely dangerous” discourse that has helped fuel the rise of the far right and rightwing populists in countries around the world, a top UN expert has told the Guardian.

From London to Lisbon, politicians from centre-right and centre-left parties alike had steadily eroded social programmes, fostering a sense of scarcity and creating fertile ground for the stirring up of anti-migrant sentiment, said Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

“If we were doing more, people would not feel threatened, they would not fear falling behind,” he said. “They would be reassured that the digital and ecological transitions and globalisation will be painless because they are protected by a state that cares for them.”

He pointed to the UK, where Nigel Farage’s Reform party is outflanking the Conservatives from the right on migration, as an example. “It’s completely terrifying,” he said. “Reform UK is higher in the polls than ever and you have these anti-migrant demonstrations in various parts of the UK … And the reason is that we’ve not been investing enough in the welfare state.”

De Schutter will present a report to the UN general assembly on Wednesday that lays out his belief in the value of investing in universal, rights-based social protection. At the heart of his argument is the need for governments to rethink the welfare state – from food assistance to healthcare and unemployment benefits – as an essential tool to maintain the social fabric of society, rather than a cost to be reduced.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/21/welfare-cuts-have-fuelled-rise-of-far-right-and-populism-top-un-expert-says