Church urges a Budget for poor

BY PIERS MCGRANDLE
THREE LEADING Church .groups have called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make the poor "a priority" in this November's Budget.
The organisations the Conference of Religious for -England and Wales, the Catholic Housing Aid Society and Church Action on Poverty have sent a joint submission to Kenneth Clarke, who in turn has promised to give careful consideration to their proposals.
Sr Pia Buxton, President of the 13,000 strong Conference of Religious, told the Catholic Herald this week that "people in poverty are excluded from so many things which the majority take for granted yet all they want is to live full, independent and productive lives. What is required is nothing less than a change of heart".
In their submission, the organisations propose a wide range of policy options. In particular, they urge the Chancellor to increase funding for the country's poorest areas and-support the regeneration of local-based economy.
Aligned with this is a request for the Government to boost investment in social housing, and withstand any political pressures to increase tax relief on mortgages.
At the moment, most people are not expecting a reduction in overall taxation in the November Budget, but tax cuts are seen as an inevitability before the next election.
Sr Pia emphasised that "reducing the financial burden on those with low incomes will provide a message of hope for all who live in poverty and also encouragement to the millions of people in Britian who enjoy comfortable lives, and want to share their prosperity with those who need it most".
The authors of the report have also asked for the political focus to be diverted from "Middle England", demanding that "instead of punishing people who have despaired, which will only exacerbate their despair and resentment still further, opportunities to lead worthwhile lives need to be fostered and structures fashioned to enable rather than disable.
"Religious and moral values, which are essentially deeply human values, are still very much alive in these communities".
One of the authors of the submission is Fr Dominic Kirkham, a Manchester priest living in the parish of Corpus Christi, and a founder member of the Miles Platting Community Assembly, which this year was presented with the Community Enterprise Award by Prince Charles for being "the most outstanding community initiative in the UK".
Fr Kirkham, who set up the church-led initiative five years ago when a man was found dead outside his priory, told the Catholic Herald that he wanted tax exemption for certain projects.
"1 would want Kenneth Clarke to seriously consider tax relief for community businesses", he said.
Meanwhile, The National Board of Catholic Women (NBCW) has written to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, expressing concern that the British Overseas Aid Budget could be cut by as much as 25 per cent.
Many Catholics believe that the cuts will force the complete withdrawal of aid programmes from some countries and the cutting back of basic programmes for clean water, health improvements and food production.
"We urge Her Majesty's Government to reject any proposals to reduce Britain's overseas aid programme", demands one excerpt from the letter.