‘Worried’ Gordon Brown calls for Universal Credit rethink in warning to government about millions of children in poverty
Gordon Brown has called on the government to carry out a “root and branch” review of Universal Credit amid growing poverty in the UK.
The former Labour prime minister told Sky News he was seeing a level of poverty “I never thought I would see in my lifetime again”, and it was the government’s “duty” to tackle it for people across the country.
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Speaking to Kay Burley, he said: “I grew up in a mining town, which is a textile town producing linoleum, with lots of slum housing, lots of real problems. And I thought that kind of poverty had gone.
“But it’s back now and you’ve got a million children last night who were not sleeping in a bed of their own… two million families that don’t have cookers and washing machines, and they can’t actually fend for the children the way they want to do.
“Kids are not cleaning their teeth because they can’t afford the toothpaste. And the soap is not being bought because it falls off the end of the off the shop when you have to buy the food and the food is costing more.”
Mr Brown, who is involved in creating so-called “multi-banks” – similar to foodbanks, but also offering bedding, furniture and hygiene products – said 2024 would be “a bigger test for us” than previous years to help those in need, adding: “I think we’ve got to do far more.”
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‘What can I do if I don’t have money?’
‘Far more children in poverty’
Asked by Kay Burley if the increase in poverty was down to the political choices of the current Conservative government, the former prime minister said: “Well, undoubtedly, Universal Credit needs to be looked at. I mean, it’s not working.
“The truth is that there are so many aspects of it that are problematical that there needs to be root and branch review of Universal Credit.
“The single person’s Universal Credit [payment] is a lower share of average earnings than at any point since the social security system started.
“So the government has got a responsibility and we’ve got to look at it.”
He added: “I am really worried about the state of poverty in Britain at the moment. And I really want people to focus on it because you don’t hear any government minister ever talking about poverty or about Universal Credit and how it needs to be reformed.
“It’s their duty to do something about it because in their midst and under their watch, far more children – more than four million children in this country – are in poverty.”
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‘They just can’t afford to keep their children’
Mr Brown also appealed for more businesses, big and small, to get involved in multi-banks, joining the likes of Amazon in providing goods for those in need.
Talking about a centre a charity runs in Wigan, he said: “On the first day it started, a father came in with his six-year-old son and said, ‘I can no longer afford to keep him’ and walked out. And the son was in absolute floods of tears – he was being deserted by his own father.
“And this is something that is going on at the moment.”
Mr Brown said that “neglect or domestic violence” were often not the reasons families are putting children into care in these circumstances.
“It’s because they just can’t afford to keep the children,” he added.
“And that’s something that we really should do something about because the cost of keeping a child in care is so high, but also it’s so unfair that that kid was being deserted by his father simply because his father didn’t have enough money.”
Sky News has contacted the Department for Work and Pensions for a response.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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