George Osbourne third budget will be seen as an increasingly out of touch with the millions of people in our country.
We already know that George Osbourne is predicting he with borrow £150 billion more over this parliament that he said.
This year he has raised the tax allowance to £9205 and has cut the tax rate from 50p to 45p. The personal allowance increase will cost around £3.5billion, the top half of earners gets 70% of the benefit from the changes, this with the £2.5 billion cuts that have already announced in tax credits that effect the low to middle earners, we can see that far from helping low to middle income earners, this government has made their incomes lower.
The government believes that the cut in the top rate of tax will only cost £100million, this is an estimate and we cannot be sure that in fact this cut will cost more and this would undermine the financial neutrality.
In the small print of the government's budget there is a additional £10 billion cut to welfare spending, with housing benefit likely to be cut even more, we have seen in the recent numbers since the changes to housing benefit in London families living in temporary accommodation has risen by 26%. This is particularly pertinent as London's rented sector is more expensive, but if levels are lowered then the misery of these changes will spread to less affluent areas of the country.
In Shepton there is a real risk that we could lose our in patient beds, these particularly important to free beds up in other hospitals, giving easy access to relatives for locals who are ill. In the Budget we see a further £500 million claw back in NHS spending, at the time when the government is holding a top down reorganisation of the NHS that is costing billions and it is expecting the NHS to come up with additional savings of £20 billion, the government are handing out tax cuts to millionaires and P45s to nurses.
The governments intellectual argument is fundamentally flawed, they believe in trickle down economics, the wealthy will throw crumbs from their table and this will feed the majority, this is the rational to their economic strategy, they have cut corporation tax this helps large corporations, yet the majority companies are small to medium sized companies who generally will not benefit from the corporation tax cuts.
What was required was a budget for the Millions not the millionaires.
Unemployment is increasing, with youth unemployment above 20%, growth is only likely to be 0.8% this year, real incomes falling, petrol now £1.40 a litre or £6.30 a gallon.
This government is locked into a spiral of cuts, austerity is not working.
Everybody knows we need to rebalance our economy, less reliance on finance and services and more to manufacture and technology, we need an economy that uses money to create wealth for the many not the few, this needs active government not one of tickle down, voodoo economics.
We need a budget to rebalance the housing market, we need investment to build homes, this government has presided over the lowest house building, they are wedded to an ideological cause. This country is facing a housing crisis and the government like Ponchus Pilot stands on the side washing it's hands and will leave the disaster to.
the market
George Osborne has given a £3bn tax cut to the richest people in the county – a tax cut worth over £40,000 for the 14,000 people earning over £1m. It tells you everything you need to know about this government that they're prepared to take money from pensioners and our NHS, while giving a tax cut to the richest people in our country."
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Home Sweet Home
Today the annual homelessness figures were announced and they showed that homelessness had increased by 14%, this follows on from the 23% increase in rough sleeping.
Last Tuesday, the Town Council had a presentation for a further development of Tadley acres, adding ninety odd new homes, with forty being 'affordable' twenty two were for renting and eighteen were proposed for low cost buying.
I made the point that this mix of rent and low cost buy was wrong, I suggested that with average incomes of around £17k, with homeownership at around twelve times salary and with less secure jobs this required more rented properties to allow local people to have access to a home.
Under the previous government developers could build more houses on their land, the developer actually complained the government made them overdevelop their land, this to appease residents no doubt.
So as a local Labour Councillor I argue for the maximum low cost rented properties.
Back to the homelessness figures these show the biggest increase for nearly ten years.
I reported the local sqeeze on local incomes last week.
Government changes from next month will cost families with children an average of £530 per year on top of last year's VAT rise. And as we have learned this week the Government's changes to tax credits are perverse and unfair: thousands of couples with children will next month find themselves up to £73 per week worse off and better off if they quit work.
The poorest 20% of the population are expecting to see their incomes fall by 1.5% in 2012/13 and would be lower in 2015-16 than in 2002-03.
It was, said the IFS, an "unprecedented period of no growth in average living standards since records began in 1961. Had the historical average growth rate continued over those 13 years, real median income would have grown by 22% over the period."
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "This is a damning analysis of the choices this out of touch government has made as they raise taxes and cut spending too far and too fast.
"How can we be all in this together when the banks have got a tax cut this year, while people on low and middle incomes are being hit hard and families with children hardest of all?"
Jenny Allen, South West lead manager for the federation, said: "As unemployment is on the up and benefits are set to be slashed, private sector rents also look set to rise. To cap it all, we've also seen the first increase in homelessness. Lack of supply is at the root of the problem. Ministers need to act now to implement a range of measures to turn the tide on the current housing crisis, ensuring that homes continue to be built at scale where it is most needed, that affordable housing options remain, and that housing is properly regulated across all sectors."
Last Tuesday, the Town Council had a presentation for a further development of Tadley acres, adding ninety odd new homes, with forty being 'affordable' twenty two were for renting and eighteen were proposed for low cost buying.
I made the point that this mix of rent and low cost buy was wrong, I suggested that with average incomes of around £17k, with homeownership at around twelve times salary and with less secure jobs this required more rented properties to allow local people to have access to a home.
Under the previous government developers could build more houses on their land, the developer actually complained the government made them overdevelop their land, this to appease residents no doubt.
So as a local Labour Councillor I argue for the maximum low cost rented properties.
Back to the homelessness figures these show the biggest increase for nearly ten years.
I reported the local sqeeze on local incomes last week.
Government changes from next month will cost families with children an average of £530 per year on top of last year's VAT rise. And as we have learned this week the Government's changes to tax credits are perverse and unfair: thousands of couples with children will next month find themselves up to £73 per week worse off and better off if they quit work.
The poorest 20% of the population are expecting to see their incomes fall by 1.5% in 2012/13 and would be lower in 2015-16 than in 2002-03.
It was, said the IFS, an "unprecedented period of no growth in average living standards since records began in 1961. Had the historical average growth rate continued over those 13 years, real median income would have grown by 22% over the period."
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "This is a damning analysis of the choices this out of touch government has made as they raise taxes and cut spending too far and too fast.
"How can we be all in this together when the banks have got a tax cut this year, while people on low and middle incomes are being hit hard and families with children hardest of all?"
Jenny Allen, South West lead manager for the federation, said: "As unemployment is on the up and benefits are set to be slashed, private sector rents also look set to rise. To cap it all, we've also seen the first increase in homelessness. Lack of supply is at the root of the problem. Ministers need to act now to implement a range of measures to turn the tide on the current housing crisis, ensuring that homes continue to be built at scale where it is most needed, that affordable housing options remain, and that housing is properly regulated across all sectors."
Saturday, 3 March 2012
True Compassion
Several stories in today's newspapers caught my attention, that seems to be linked and the true extent of the government are having on the most vulnerable.
The Prime minister likes to think of himself and his government having “true compassion" in today's Independent he talks about his government cares about the kind of country our children are going to grow up in, they care about giving people dignity in old age, he says only by taking tough and bold action that we will make our country stronger and fairer."
Earlier in the week I wrote about the increasing private credit crunch, where our CAB is seeing increasing number of people seeking advice on debt, housing and employment problems.
In Mendip we are fortunate to have a high quality bureau, previous governments of all political colours have understood the important nature of free community legal advice given, this can make such a huge difference to a persons life.
This Tory government are looking to save/cut £350million, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has now passed to the House of Lords and Peers have warned that if the planned £350 million cuts are implemented law centres will close, leaving many thousands of the poor and vulnerable marginalised and without access to legal help.
The cut in Legal Aid will remove legal aid for medical negligence, divorce, employment and welfare cases, whilst also hitting areas such as debt and housing hard
The newly passed Welfare Reform act will increase the workload of the community legal centres, with changes that will effect disabled people, housing costs and reductions in benefits.
The government believe that their system the government expects more people to deal with problems themselves, via a centralised telephone line or the Internet.
Just imagine how difficult this might be for someone with learning disabilities, who really needs to deal with someone face-to-face from the start. Especially as in legal centres have access to experts to call upon for the most complex cases. Or someone who cannot afford a telephone or the Internet, and therefore would previously have relied on walking to their local law centre. These people will still exist, but will have nowhere to turn.
An example of the help CAB and legal centres offer is the GP outreach project in Mendip, trained people give advice and as a consequence local people have received benefits they are entitled £400,000 in the pockets of the most needy.
Disabled people will not get the support they need - at great cost to them and to friends, family, carers, communities and the taxpayer further down the line.
The thought of people living in fear of safety is of true concern. In today Independent there is a report of the savings/cuts into the help offered to victims of domestic violence.
Refuges for women suffering physical and mental abuse from partners are closing and specialist counsellors are losing their jobs following a 31 per cent cut in their funding.
The British Crime Survey estimated that there were 392,000 incidents of domestic violence in 2010-11. A separate study found 7 per cent of all women aged 16 to 59 had been victims of domestic abuse in the previous year.
I say to the Prime Minister the system needs to be fair. And that means fairness for everyone. Fair to the vulnerable, fair to defendants, fair to practitioners, and fair to the taxpayer too.
What sort of country is it where the powerful are riding around on retired police horses preaching about fairness at the same time aggressively attacking the very services that the most vulnerable need, I guess that what passes for fairness in the class of Eton.
The Prime minister likes to think of himself and his government having “true compassion" in today's Independent he talks about his government cares about the kind of country our children are going to grow up in, they care about giving people dignity in old age, he says only by taking tough and bold action that we will make our country stronger and fairer."
Earlier in the week I wrote about the increasing private credit crunch, where our CAB is seeing increasing number of people seeking advice on debt, housing and employment problems.
In Mendip we are fortunate to have a high quality bureau, previous governments of all political colours have understood the important nature of free community legal advice given, this can make such a huge difference to a persons life.
This Tory government are looking to save/cut £350million, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has now passed to the House of Lords and Peers have warned that if the planned £350 million cuts are implemented law centres will close, leaving many thousands of the poor and vulnerable marginalised and without access to legal help.
The cut in Legal Aid will remove legal aid for medical negligence, divorce, employment and welfare cases, whilst also hitting areas such as debt and housing hard
The newly passed Welfare Reform act will increase the workload of the community legal centres, with changes that will effect disabled people, housing costs and reductions in benefits.
The government believe that their system the government expects more people to deal with problems themselves, via a centralised telephone line or the Internet.
Just imagine how difficult this might be for someone with learning disabilities, who really needs to deal with someone face-to-face from the start. Especially as in legal centres have access to experts to call upon for the most complex cases. Or someone who cannot afford a telephone or the Internet, and therefore would previously have relied on walking to their local law centre. These people will still exist, but will have nowhere to turn.
An example of the help CAB and legal centres offer is the GP outreach project in Mendip, trained people give advice and as a consequence local people have received benefits they are entitled £400,000 in the pockets of the most needy.
Disabled people will not get the support they need - at great cost to them and to friends, family, carers, communities and the taxpayer further down the line.
The thought of people living in fear of safety is of true concern. In today Independent there is a report of the savings/cuts into the help offered to victims of domestic violence.
Refuges for women suffering physical and mental abuse from partners are closing and specialist counsellors are losing their jobs following a 31 per cent cut in their funding.
The British Crime Survey estimated that there were 392,000 incidents of domestic violence in 2010-11. A separate study found 7 per cent of all women aged 16 to 59 had been victims of domestic abuse in the previous year.
I say to the Prime Minister the system needs to be fair. And that means fairness for everyone. Fair to the vulnerable, fair to defendants, fair to practitioners, and fair to the taxpayer too.
What sort of country is it where the powerful are riding around on retired police horses preaching about fairness at the same time aggressively attacking the very services that the most vulnerable need, I guess that what passes for fairness in the class of Eton.
Monday, 27 February 2012
The Personal Credit Crunch
I attended the quarterly management committee of the Citizen Advice Bureau.
It is becoming abundantly clear that the pressure on household budgets is affecting low and middle income families.
The Mendip CAB has seen an increase of 21% in people seeking help and advice since January.
The issues being dealt with are welfare payments up by 31%, Housing problems increasing by 16% and Employment issues rising by 10%.
It is particularly worrying the amount of rent arrears to social landlords increased by 74%, with the average client having £14,000 mortgage arrears, although there is no evidence that financial institutions are foreclosing on mortgages.
The Housing benefit cap seems not to have led to a reduction in rents.
The CAB GP surgery outwork project has gained £400,000 for it's clients by the third quarter of the year.
The current economic situation is seeing more short term less secure employment, that is low paid, there is a lack of affordable housing.
There are more changes to the benefit system coming through in the coming year, changes to working tax credits, the government want affordable rents to be 80% of the private rented sector and if changes are approved in the welfare bill.
The Independent newspapers are reporting that 6 million households are in fuel poverty.
The Press like to characterise the lower to middle income families as benefit cheats yet, 0.8 per cent of benefit spending is overpaid due to fraud, amounting to £1.2 billion, and this proportion is the same as in 2009/10, every penny lost through fraud is too much, yet look at the billions not paid in tax through evasion as a comparison, yet the Press make little of this!
The governments austerity plan has choked off growth, they have reduced income with cuts in benefits and they have failed to control utility bills and their VAT increase to 20%, a tax they denied they'd increase, has further squeezed incomes, this has transferred debt from the government to individuals, banks and financial institutions has hoarded the money given in quantitative easing, but the only people prepared to lend is the payday lenders at interest rates of 2,000%APR. This is a time bomb that will explode in the future.
The growing crisis of housing, employment and income will cause the economy to underperform, it's a self serving prophecy.
It is becoming abundantly clear that the pressure on household budgets is affecting low and middle income families.
The Mendip CAB has seen an increase of 21% in people seeking help and advice since January.
The issues being dealt with are welfare payments up by 31%, Housing problems increasing by 16% and Employment issues rising by 10%.
It is particularly worrying the amount of rent arrears to social landlords increased by 74%, with the average client having £14,000 mortgage arrears, although there is no evidence that financial institutions are foreclosing on mortgages.
The Housing benefit cap seems not to have led to a reduction in rents.
The CAB GP surgery outwork project has gained £400,000 for it's clients by the third quarter of the year.
The current economic situation is seeing more short term less secure employment, that is low paid, there is a lack of affordable housing.
There are more changes to the benefit system coming through in the coming year, changes to working tax credits, the government want affordable rents to be 80% of the private rented sector and if changes are approved in the welfare bill.
The Independent newspapers are reporting that 6 million households are in fuel poverty.
The Press like to characterise the lower to middle income families as benefit cheats yet, 0.8 per cent of benefit spending is overpaid due to fraud, amounting to £1.2 billion, and this proportion is the same as in 2009/10, every penny lost through fraud is too much, yet look at the billions not paid in tax through evasion as a comparison, yet the Press make little of this!
The governments austerity plan has choked off growth, they have reduced income with cuts in benefits and they have failed to control utility bills and their VAT increase to 20%, a tax they denied they'd increase, has further squeezed incomes, this has transferred debt from the government to individuals, banks and financial institutions has hoarded the money given in quantitative easing, but the only people prepared to lend is the payday lenders at interest rates of 2,000%APR. This is a time bomb that will explode in the future.
The growing crisis of housing, employment and income will cause the economy to underperform, it's a self serving prophecy.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Not in the Market for the NHS
In the last year I have realised the importance of the health service, in the early part of last year I had extremely painful Achilles tendons and shin splints, my GP did not refer me to a podiatrist, so I found myself one and paid to get them fixed, thankfully this was successful. Anyone that knows me, knows that since September I have been suffering from exhaustion and not firing on full or even half cylinders, thankfully my GP diagnosed the complaint and now they are trying to get the medication right.
Maybe it's age, but I now know the importance of the National Health Service.
The coalition government are nearing the end of their Health and Social Care Bill, this is an illegitimate piece of legislation, neither the Conservative Party or the liberal democrats promised or mentioned their intention to deliver a top down reorganisation of the NHS. A convenient conclusion from the coalitions discussions.
Health Service provision is a dynamic, health innovation moves at a pace and the NHS has moved and will continue to do so, no one can argue that personalised care in the home and greater specialised services will demand changes in the NHS, but the coalition governments solution of private marketisation seems the wrong treatment and even the wrong diagnosis.
The Commonwealth Fund most recent comparative study of health systems clearly shows that market-based systems, or countries that have a more mixed economy in health, spend more as a proportion of GDP on health than we do on the NHS for a roughly equivalent level of coverage and service quality. This is why the fund regularly judges the NHS to be the most efficient healthcare system in the world.
The reason why the NHS is rated to be efficient is because of careful planning and the collaboration between hospital, doctors and health service professionals. Health cannot be about putting your competitors out of business as capacity is important to deal with the ebbs and flows of disease and health issues.
The NHS is based on the notion that everyone deserves the best medical care, the NHS largely achieves this, in market health services there are greater health inequality of delivery, so the NHS delivers better health care for everyone.
In Shepton under the previous Labour government the private sector opened up a treatment centre, this offered choice for patients, and this was within the planned health provision, the NHS mission should be to continue to show how people can have maximum choice, control and access to responsive services without unpicking the fabric of a planned, national system.
The previous Conservative government privatised the railways and the energy markets, these privatisations failed because these do not offer real choice and the markets are rigged, our NHS cannot be treated in the same way, the coalition governments new duty to promote the "autonomy" of providers breaks that. And in a world where hospitals are fighting for survival, it raises questions about the future of clinical networks and workforce planning.
The NHS enjoys patient satifaction, people reconise the NHS is fair.
The Health and Social Care Bill will deliver a postcode lottery, the service delivered depends on where you live, the government argues the GPs are the best people to judge on their patients health, yet the discussion between doctor and patient are not equal and far from improving patient chances, if implemented, the bill will result in increasing numbers of patients fighting to obtain treatment and care.
There is growing evidence that the NHS are beginning to make cuts to meet the £20billion savings demanded by the government, in Shepton the NHS are reviewing the bed numbers in the community hospital, the town has a fight on our hands to save the in patient service.
So back to where I started, the new commissioning groups, will decide what services they fund, I had to pay £450 to make my legs better, patients will lose choice and the power will be with the GP commisioning groups.
The Health and Social Care bill is a mistake, it replaces collaboration for competition, it could fundlemental change the relationship between doctors and doctors and doctors and patients and it will lead to a worse health service, it's time to Drop the Bill before it's too late.
http://www.dropthebill.com
Maybe it's age, but I now know the importance of the National Health Service.
The coalition government are nearing the end of their Health and Social Care Bill, this is an illegitimate piece of legislation, neither the Conservative Party or the liberal democrats promised or mentioned their intention to deliver a top down reorganisation of the NHS. A convenient conclusion from the coalitions discussions.
Health Service provision is a dynamic, health innovation moves at a pace and the NHS has moved and will continue to do so, no one can argue that personalised care in the home and greater specialised services will demand changes in the NHS, but the coalition governments solution of private marketisation seems the wrong treatment and even the wrong diagnosis.
The Commonwealth Fund most recent comparative study of health systems clearly shows that market-based systems, or countries that have a more mixed economy in health, spend more as a proportion of GDP on health than we do on the NHS for a roughly equivalent level of coverage and service quality. This is why the fund regularly judges the NHS to be the most efficient healthcare system in the world.
The reason why the NHS is rated to be efficient is because of careful planning and the collaboration between hospital, doctors and health service professionals. Health cannot be about putting your competitors out of business as capacity is important to deal with the ebbs and flows of disease and health issues.
The NHS is based on the notion that everyone deserves the best medical care, the NHS largely achieves this, in market health services there are greater health inequality of delivery, so the NHS delivers better health care for everyone.
In Shepton under the previous Labour government the private sector opened up a treatment centre, this offered choice for patients, and this was within the planned health provision, the NHS mission should be to continue to show how people can have maximum choice, control and access to responsive services without unpicking the fabric of a planned, national system.
The previous Conservative government privatised the railways and the energy markets, these privatisations failed because these do not offer real choice and the markets are rigged, our NHS cannot be treated in the same way, the coalition governments new duty to promote the "autonomy" of providers breaks that. And in a world where hospitals are fighting for survival, it raises questions about the future of clinical networks and workforce planning.
The NHS enjoys patient satifaction, people reconise the NHS is fair.
The Health and Social Care Bill will deliver a postcode lottery, the service delivered depends on where you live, the government argues the GPs are the best people to judge on their patients health, yet the discussion between doctor and patient are not equal and far from improving patient chances, if implemented, the bill will result in increasing numbers of patients fighting to obtain treatment and care.
There is growing evidence that the NHS are beginning to make cuts to meet the £20billion savings demanded by the government, in Shepton the NHS are reviewing the bed numbers in the community hospital, the town has a fight on our hands to save the in patient service.
So back to where I started, the new commissioning groups, will decide what services they fund, I had to pay £450 to make my legs better, patients will lose choice and the power will be with the GP commisioning groups.
The Health and Social Care bill is a mistake, it replaces collaboration for competition, it could fundlemental change the relationship between doctors and doctors and doctors and patients and it will lead to a worse health service, it's time to Drop the Bill before it's too late.
http://www.dropthebill.com
Monday, 6 February 2012
Creating Political Benefit
True to form the Conservative government is seeking to use the the well trodden 'divide and rule'.
Last week the Welfare Bill was debated in parliament, the disabled and sick have been painted as scroungers, with the Dept of Work and Pension mis representing the facts in their press campaign.
Today we have seen respected national charities speaking out about the mis representation of the facts six leading disability charities have spoken out against the government’s ‘scrounger’ rhetoric on welfare cuts, saying it fuels abuse of disabled people.
The charities speaking out - Scope, Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability, the National Autistic Society, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), and Disability Alliance - say inflammatory media coverage has played a role in this, they primarily blame ministers and civil servants for repeatedly highlighting the supposed mass abuse of the disability benefits system, much of which is unfounded…
So many of the government welfare reforms will fail to deliver what they want, the potty policy of get a job and lose your council house, or cancer patients only getting disabled benefit for twelve months, as if this arbitrary time can guarantee recovery from this terrible disease.
The benefit cap is a typical right wing political scam, easy politics and seemly popular, housing benefit is a large part of people benefit claim, yet housing benefit paid to private landlords is on average 50% higher than council housing, so the logical argument is to supply more council housing, especially as this account has been making a surplus in recent years.
Instead the Conservative plan is implement a benefit cap, they plan to implement a 80% of local private rent for housing associations, this will increase the housing benefit costs, they are cutting family work credits this makes work pay.
One of David Cameron’s advisers has attacked the government’s controversial welfare reform plans, warning that they could hit the wrong people. Speaking to BBC 5live, his “welfare-to-work Tsar” Emma Harrison said:
“We live in an amazing, civilised country so let’s not hurt the vulnerable. I’m worried about the number of families who will be affected by this…I think we need to be really, really careful we don’t catch the wrong people in these big reforms.”
Last week it was reported that 100,000 families are receiving food parcels as they do not have enough income to feed themselves.
Welfare should be seen as a safety net, not as a life choice, welfare reform should be about getting people back into work, supplying individuals with the skills to get work.
It is worrying youth unemployment is over 1million, yet the need to supply vocational training and quality apprenticeships, yet the government education policies want schools to focus on the English Baccalaureate and devalue vocational subjects, they've abandoned the Educational Maintenance allowance (OECD says this is cost neutral)and cutting of Future Jobs Scheme without the immediate replacement.
This government has many policies that either miss the point or do not achieve the desired objectives.
Last week the Welfare Bill was debated in parliament, the disabled and sick have been painted as scroungers, with the Dept of Work and Pension mis representing the facts in their press campaign.
Today we have seen respected national charities speaking out about the mis representation of the facts six leading disability charities have spoken out against the government’s ‘scrounger’ rhetoric on welfare cuts, saying it fuels abuse of disabled people.
The charities speaking out - Scope, Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability, the National Autistic Society, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), and Disability Alliance - say inflammatory media coverage has played a role in this, they primarily blame ministers and civil servants for repeatedly highlighting the supposed mass abuse of the disability benefits system, much of which is unfounded…
So many of the government welfare reforms will fail to deliver what they want, the potty policy of get a job and lose your council house, or cancer patients only getting disabled benefit for twelve months, as if this arbitrary time can guarantee recovery from this terrible disease.
The benefit cap is a typical right wing political scam, easy politics and seemly popular, housing benefit is a large part of people benefit claim, yet housing benefit paid to private landlords is on average 50% higher than council housing, so the logical argument is to supply more council housing, especially as this account has been making a surplus in recent years.
Instead the Conservative plan is implement a benefit cap, they plan to implement a 80% of local private rent for housing associations, this will increase the housing benefit costs, they are cutting family work credits this makes work pay.
One of David Cameron’s advisers has attacked the government’s controversial welfare reform plans, warning that they could hit the wrong people. Speaking to BBC 5live, his “welfare-to-work Tsar” Emma Harrison said:
“We live in an amazing, civilised country so let’s not hurt the vulnerable. I’m worried about the number of families who will be affected by this…I think we need to be really, really careful we don’t catch the wrong people in these big reforms.”
Last week it was reported that 100,000 families are receiving food parcels as they do not have enough income to feed themselves.
Welfare should be seen as a safety net, not as a life choice, welfare reform should be about getting people back into work, supplying individuals with the skills to get work.
It is worrying youth unemployment is over 1million, yet the need to supply vocational training and quality apprenticeships, yet the government education policies want schools to focus on the English Baccalaureate and devalue vocational subjects, they've abandoned the Educational Maintenance allowance (OECD says this is cost neutral)and cutting of Future Jobs Scheme without the immediate replacement.
This government has many policies that either miss the point or do not achieve the desired objectives.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Vested Interests
Years ago,(before one member one vote) at the time of the Kinnock Hattersley Labour leadership election, I argued at my unions mass meeting that union members should be having individual votes, and the left of British politics needed claim democracy and devolving power to individuals and away from vested interests.
Today, we have seen the vested interests act against the majority interest of the British people; the abuse of the media; abuse by the financial sector; lack of consumer protection.
The British economy is likely to be in recession, it is highly likely that the CONDEM government will borrow more than Labour, £158 billion more than Osbourne stated, youth unemployment over 20%, with unemployment rising and employment falling.
We have seen the banks unwilling to lend money to small to medium size businesses to invest to create wealth. This despite billions of pounds of tax payers money to refinance the banks and £275billion in quanative easing to put liquidity in the banking system.
The CONDEM governments belief that by slashing the public sector this would free up the private sector to grow, this has proved to be mistaken, this with the austerity programme has seen demand shrink in the country, we have seen some export growth but this is now beginning to show signs of weakening.
It is clear the current government has no plan to build a new economy, Labour has to develop a new economic and industrial policy.
Labour focus has to be on the generation of wealth for the many, a focus on changes to the tax system that rewards production and wealth creation and switch to taxing unproductive assets, a tax system that rewards research and development and training of staff.
A National Investment Bank that funds strategic business to create the new industries and innovation.
Government has to tackle rigged markets and create competitive markets where innovation can thrive.
The real challenge is to focus on the real economy, Labour must focus on jobs, wealth and the new economy, with a focus on an active and diverse market and to take on the vested interests that harms this agenda.
Today, we have seen the vested interests act against the majority interest of the British people; the abuse of the media; abuse by the financial sector; lack of consumer protection.
The British economy is likely to be in recession, it is highly likely that the CONDEM government will borrow more than Labour, £158 billion more than Osbourne stated, youth unemployment over 20%, with unemployment rising and employment falling.
We have seen the banks unwilling to lend money to small to medium size businesses to invest to create wealth. This despite billions of pounds of tax payers money to refinance the banks and £275billion in quanative easing to put liquidity in the banking system.
The CONDEM governments belief that by slashing the public sector this would free up the private sector to grow, this has proved to be mistaken, this with the austerity programme has seen demand shrink in the country, we have seen some export growth but this is now beginning to show signs of weakening.
It is clear the current government has no plan to build a new economy, Labour has to develop a new economic and industrial policy.
Labour focus has to be on the generation of wealth for the many, a focus on changes to the tax system that rewards production and wealth creation and switch to taxing unproductive assets, a tax system that rewards research and development and training of staff.
A National Investment Bank that funds strategic business to create the new industries and innovation.
Government has to tackle rigged markets and create competitive markets where innovation can thrive.
The real challenge is to focus on the real economy, Labour must focus on jobs, wealth and the new economy, with a focus on an active and diverse market and to take on the vested interests that harms this agenda.
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