Them & Us


Prioritising profits

The government has been slammed over privatising the processing of visa applications to the UK.

Last year, visa administration was outsourced to French company Teleperformance by the Home Office under a £300 million five-year deal. Since then visa delays have reportedly grown worse, leading to missed funerals and the cancellation of a wedding.

One applicant, having paid the company £103 for its ‘priority service’, did not receive the necessary paperwork in time, resulting in being unable to get to his dying grandfather’s beside in time.

A company spokesperson said “we aim to provide excellent customer service at all times.” Adding, “We know there is always room to do better.” So that’s all right then.

Ukip minimum wage

The ‘very nasty party’ continued to live up to its acquired name when Ukip leader Nigel Farage came out against an increase in the minimum wage, because that would encourage more migrant labour from Romania.

On a live radio phone in, Farage responded to a caller’s question, saying: “If you increase the minimum wage, you may actually even attract more migrant labour.”

The fact that millions of people in the UK are struggling to live on a £6.50 (or less) hourly wage while top company executives are reaping record high salaries and financial perks, appeared to be irrelevant to this rich, xenophobic bigot.

What recovery?

Before readers open a bottle of champagne to celebrate, the fall in unemployment is not all it seems. While Tory Chancellor George Osborne crows about a drop of 76,000 to 1.84 million unemployed, the numbers in part-time jobs were up by 29,000 and the numbers in low-paid self-employment remain at a record 4.5 million.

Average pay, including city bonuses, rose in the three months to February by 1.8%, down on the 1.9% in January. This government has left office with people’s pay packets worth less than when they came into power – the first time since World War Two.

Spirit of greed

‘Spirit of Thatcher’ might sound like some rusting cross-channel car ferry but it refers to a financial rip-off concocted by David Cameron. The PM has pledged to sell-off the publicly owned stake in Lloyds Bank.

Lloyds was saved by the last Labour government with a £20 billion bailout. Now, the Tories intend to flog-off £4 billion of stock at a discounted price to those investors who can find a spare £10,000 down the back of the sofa.

A further £5 billion of shares will be sold to ‘institutional investors’. Expect a substantial loss to the taxpayer if the previous Royal Mail sell-off is anything to go by.