Alex Sampson, Plymouth Socialist Party
The Financial Lives survey, produced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), makes for pretty bleak reading.
10% of people surveyed had no savings at all and another 21% had less than £1,000 saved, meaning their lives are vulnerable to an unexpected financial crisis. It also showed that 2.8 million people have persistent credit card debt, 3.8 million retirees feel they don’t have enough money saved to live comfortably in their retirement, and on average people aged 18-34 have already amassed £12,000 of debt!
Unsurprisingly, 12 million people in the UK feel stressed or anxious about their financial situation. More people, particularly single parents and women, are using currently unregulated ‘buy now pay later’ schemes to afford bigger ticket items.
The FCA says the levels of debt in the UK are similar to its last survey in 2022 and therefore the cost-of-living crisis has not affected debt levels, but low pay and substandard pensions and benefits have been a problem for much longer than the last three years, and are clearly impacting working-class people of all ages. How many people have been ‘just hanging on’ for years?
The advice given to people who are worried about their financial situation is to speak to a financial advisor about the best way to restructure their debt, but that is little more than a sticking plaster slapped over a system designed to keep the working class in poverty. It does not address the root problem of low-paid, insecure employment, high rents and sky-high utility bills. It is impossible to save for a rainy day when every day is a monsoon. Not to mention that many debt advice services have had their funding cut during the decade and a half of austerity.
Nationalise the banks
The Socialist Party fights for the nationalisation of the top 150 UK companies – including the banks. If banks were run democratically by workers ourselves instead of for the profits of those at the top, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Mortgages and loans could be offered at zero-to-miniscule interest rates, predatory debts (including student loans) could be written off, and the use of bailiffs and repossessions would end.
Nationalised banks under democratic workers’ control could invest the immense wealth they currently have locked away to rebuild our infrastructure, start a programme of mass council house building, provide free education, free public transport and offer low-interest loans to small businesses to revitalise our dying town centres from the ground up. Coupled with a liveable minimum wage of at least £15 an hour and better pensions and benefits, this would ensure that everyone could have the type of dignified life free from the gnawing anxiety of debt and financial instability.
