Tories and Labour fail to give 'Any Answers'

Peter Scott, Worcester Socialist Party

I went to a recent recording of BBC Radio 4's programme Any Questions in Worcester.

There were questions on Northern Rock's sale to Virgin, youth unemployment and the lost generation, scrapping the rise in fuel duty and paying for it with a lower rise in benefits and should Cameron try to regain powers from the EU.

Labour MP Diane Abbott urged that Northern Rock should be run on a "different model" and said "not to keep it state run" but to be the old mutual-style building society. Later she said: "Nobody is saying there shouldn't be cuts."

Owen Patterson, Tory minister and MP for Shropshire North, supported Iain Duncan Smith for Tory leader and was parliamentary private secretary to Ann Widdecombe.

He said several times that the UK is borrowing £232,000 a minute. The audience seemed to think he should answer the questions, but he thought we should realise that he knew what was best for us. One person asked what planet he lived on.

He said "everyone is better off because of our austerity programme". He said there were 90,000 vacancies in retail and 44,000 in hospitality. It seemed a mystery to him why people were not taking these low-paid, insecure, probably part-time jobs with no career prospects.

Telegraph journalist Ian Martin, even more right-wing, made a point of saying how difficult things were. He put on a sad face, particularly when saying that the UK's state sector was bigger than that in the USSR and that 'obstacles' to creating jobs - such as the minimum wage - had to be done away with.

An audience member pointed out that times did not appear to be too hard for Mr Martin.

Patterson told us we could not dump our debt on the next generation, that we had all "been on a cruise, first-class" but now the bill had to be paid. Shouts of "when did the cruise start?" came from the hall.

The Tories plan to reduce working class people's living standards and will do so unless a determined opposition is mounted.

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May 2012 local election reports

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The main parties

Housing safety nets for young people being scrapped by Tories

Tories stand for the 1%... We need a voice for the 99%!

Labour:

Con-Dems' hypocrisy over children's care

Leadership shows weakness at CWU conference

Building the electoral alternative in Brent

Wales TUC - Oppose all cuts!

Worcester:

Worcester: Demo against NHS cuts

Worcester NSSN meeting: Next steps in the pensions dispute

Worcester Socialist Party: What is Socialism?

Northern Rock:

Them & Us

Northern Rock and Branson's present

Northern Rock throws workers on the dole