Strike to fight cuts budget


Emma Clark

Tory Chancellor George Osborne is introducing yet more severe spending cuts. Osborne justifies this new savagery because of a faltering economy. But he’s been in the driving seat for the last six years!

These cuts will disproportionately hit the working class hardest. Meanwhile he continues to give big businesses tax breaks that allow them to dodge billions in corporation tax, and the super-rich enjoy lower rates of income tax.

Under public pressure, Osborne was forced to make a u-turn in his 2015 autumn statement on plans to scrap tax credits.

Tax credits

However, on the eve of this budget the government has changed how tax credits are calculated, thereby taking £1 billion from 800,000 low-income workers.

Osborne is targeting other areas for making cuts, such as slashing PIP disability benefits by up to £150 a week for 500,000 vulnerable people.

Pensions are also coming under his cosh. At the turn of the 20th century, the state pension was introduced into Britain. Gone were the days of people working up until their death.

But cuts and changes to pensions show that the Tory government wants to return back to times like this.

Young people today could see their retirement age rise to 75 or even as high as 81!

This is the latest nail in the coffin for the prospects of young people, who have to balance tuition fees, zero-hour contracts, lower wages, and now a retirement age where we’ll work till death do us part!

Strike

We have to stop the Tories returning us to the Victorian age. The trade unions should rally to people’s defence by coordinating industrial action as a step towards a 24-hour general strike.

The Tories are split over the EU and are on the back foot in attacking the junior doctors. They can only get away with more austerity if the opposition allows them to.

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