Stephen suffers from mental and physical health problems which stop him from working full time. Yet Rishi Sunak calls his world of cold and darkness “a lifestyle choice”.
Stephen Martin is living what the Prime Minister calls “a lifestyle choice”. An artist and gardener, he lives with mental health issues and Long Covid and has struggled with full-time work.
Stephen lives in the family home in Sheffield he was born in, but spent a cold, dark winter there because he doesn’t have the money to rewire it. His electricity circuit blew more than a decade ago, so he lives without electricity and gas, with no heating, no light and no cooking facilities.
Despite debilitating health conditions, the 64-year-old manages to work some hours as a gardener, but needs Universal Credit to survive. In the fading natural light, he paints portraits, to keep himself as well as possible. A neighbour lets him borrow a socket in his garage once a day to charge his phone and heat a kettle in exchange for gardening work – which he uses to make a Pot Noodle and a single cup of tea. “At night, then, I can have a hot drink and if I can, a Pot Noodle,” he says. “I’ve got a portable DVD player so I can charge that, and I can charge my phone. I am hardy. But it’s hard.”
We meet Stephen at the touring exhibition Dreams and Realities – backed by Church Action on Poverty – which aims to tell those in power and the general public what living in extreme poverty really means. His compelling acrylic portraits capture the dreams of nine people living in extreme poverty in Sheffield, including himself.
Inside the exhibition in the city’s St Mary’s Church, Stephen’s self-portrait is set against a dark background – “to show the darkness I live in”. But his bright shirt and blue glasses capture his extraordinary resilience. And his self-portrait includes a well-being journal, which he’s used to help himself with his mental health.
“I live in the dark a lot of the time,” says Stephen, who is unable to sell his home due to a legal issue. “Winter is hard, I have duvets, a lot of blankets and clothing to keep me warm. I buy food day to day as I can’t refrigerate anything. I eat two meals a day. When I have money I buy cereal, Shredded Wheat, a few other kinds so I can mix it up.”
The same kind of resilience and honesty can be seen in his other portraits. Living on the frontline of poverty means Michelle, 34, can’t afford fresh fruit, reflected in her portrait, featuring her favourite – strawberries. She says her dream is to set up a charity reaching out to women stuck in cycles of homelessness, addiction, prostitution and prison, drawing on her own insights as a recovering addict.
Rebecca, 14, is a gifted young musician, whose dream is to have piano lessons. Born in the UK, she and her family are political refugees from Myanmar (formerly Burma). Piano lessons feel far off to her, when her family lives “pay cheque to pay cheque”. Wayne is a volunteer librarian who helps homeless people, despite being homeless himself. He has no income and claims no benefits. His dream is to run a sustainable business, using profits to fight racial injustice and homelessness.
Susan, 64, lives with angina and rheumatoid arthritis, and is her husband’s carer. Her caring responsibilities and ill health mean she can’t work. Her dream is to visit her daughter in Scotland. Stephen’s portraits capture each person’s essential humanity. “Everyone had different elements, things that mattered to them,” he says. “I wanted to help people understand how complicated life is.”
Former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne famously used the phrase “lifestyle choice” referring to people on benefits, ushering in the nightmare of his Austerity programme. This week, his language was echoed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – outlining a new “moral mission” to cut benefits. “They refer to it as a ‘lifestyle choice’ which it definitely is not,” says Stephen, who subsists on around £340 a month.
“Benefit is a lifeline for vulnerable people. Back in September I failed the DWP assessment because they said that for someone my age, I was very fit – because I don’t use a wheelchair or take tablets every day. So, I’m expected to be job searching and looking for full-time work now. But I suffer with my mental health and now with Long Covid, which makes life very hard. Mental health isn’t something that can be just dismissed. Illness and poverty are linked – neither are something any of us would choose.”
Stephen’s conditions affect his ability to work in ways our brutal system struggles to measure. “My mental health affects me in a way where I can’t deal with stress or pressure any more,” he explains. He says government attacks show how politicians have no understanding of reality.
“I got hypothermia a few years ago,” he says. “I’d got wet on a walk, but there’s nowhere to dry things or get warm, and I started shivering and couldn’t stop.” One of the organisers of Dreams and Realities, Yo Tozer-Loft, 54, says the group is proud to support the #LetsEndPoverty campaign.
“Each person here lives with strength and dignity whilst facing the challenges of life on the frontline of poverty,” Yo says. “Each person is a creative soul, hard-working, with skills to share and a dream. Their economic circumstances have not yet allowed them to realise their dreams.”
Stephen hopes the exhibition will help make poverty a general election issue. He needs others to vote because, he says, “I don’t have photo ID of any kind so at the moment I’m not eligible.”
