“THE LABOUR Party is more pro-business, pro-wealth creation, pro-competition than ever before” said Chancellor Gordon Brown in February this year.
That’s clear from his latest budget. We get thrown a few crumbs while big business and the rich are laughing, as usual, all the way to the bank.
Health service
Taxes have gone up to pay for spending on the NHS. But New Labour refuse to increase income tax for the very rich. Corporation tax for big business is one of the lowest in the industrialised world. £85 billion is lost to the exchequer every year through tax avoidance by the rich – nearly twice the annual budget for the health service!
Poverty
New Labour have failed to reach their target of lifting 1.2 million children out of poverty. 3.9 million children are still poor. But Britain’s super rich have seen their combined wealth grow to £159.6 billion.
Low pay
Low paid workers will get a measly 10p an hour rise in October, taking the minimum wage to just £4.20 (£3.60 for 18-21-year-olds). That’s an increase of only 2.4%. Fat cat directors however had an average pay rise of 107% between 1994 and 2001.
New Labour always put the profits of their big business friends before the interests of ordinary working people. Yet more sleazy scandals have been revealed this week (see page three).
The Socialist Party however, stands for the millions not the millionaires. We want a system which takes the economy out of the hands of the rich minority and allows working-class people, through democratic ownership and control, to plan society to meet the needs of the majority – not just the privileged few.
