Sadie Robinson
SW – The Tories have unveiled plans to push up poverty, increase evictions and sell off more public services–and that’s only the start of their assault.
Last week’s queen’s speech detailed some of the Tories’ plans. They included cutting the benefits cap from £26,000 to £23,000, freezing most working age benefits for two years and removing housing benefit from people under 21.
A leaked government memo admitted that the benefit cap cut would push 40,000 more children into poverty. Housing charities warned that the cut would send evictions soaring as tens of thousands more people struggle to pay their rent.
The Tories also want to snatch benefits from young people. Under 21s who are out of work will only be able to claim a new Youth Allowance for six months–after which they can be forced into “community work”.
It isn’t clear if they will be paid for the work.
The cuts are part of the Tories’ Employment Bill, which pretends that making life harder for people on benefits will “incentivise” them to find jobs. David Cameron had the gall to decry the “misery of unemployment”.
He leads a government that gloats it will have sacked 1.1 million public sector workers between 2010 and the end of this parliament.
Slash
The measures in the bill will cut £1.5 billion from welfare. But the Tories want to slash a staggering £12 billion–and it still isn’t clear where the rest will come from.
The Tories want more privatisation too. The Housing Bill will force councils to sell “high value” council homes and extend the Right to Buy.
Meanwhile “coasting” schools will be forced to become privately-run academies and the government will bring in 500 more free schools. A definition of “coasting” is still to come.
The Tories will make it even harder for workers to strike to defend their jobs and conditions (see below).
They will cut even more “red tape”–regulations that protect workers and the environment. They will end new subsidies for onshore wind farms and give local councils power to block wind farms.
The Tories will invest more in new nuclear energy.
They hope to get away with all of this partly by dividing us. So the Immigration Bill will whip up more racism against migrants. It will make working in Britain “illegally” a crime–and give the government power to seize migrants’ wages.
And the Extremism Bill will allow the government to ban extremist groups and close venues “used to support extremism”. It would also give bosses the ability to check whether someone is an “extremist” and stop them working with children.
Cameron declared the plans would create a “One Nation” Britain. The truth is they will widen the gap between rich and poor and scapegoat the most vulnerable people–if they get away with it.