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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/966/26265
From The Socialist newspaper, 11 October 2017
Major attacks 'Universal Credit', half a million more face poverty
Empty pockets broke penniless poor poverty budget, photo Dan Moyle (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)
Even John Major, the Tory former prime minister, thinks his party's 'Universal Credit' welfare system is wrong. The scheme is due to start its roll-out in another 50 districts this month.
Meanwhile another 470,000 people will slip below the poverty line within three years if the Tories don't reverse their welfare freeze.
George Osborne's four-year restraint has further cut benefits in real terms, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Major called Universal Credit "operationally messy, socially unfair and unforgiving."
As previously reported in the Socialist, this flimsy excuse for benefit cuts has put almost half of claimants in rent arrears.
Major's hypocritical comments are another salvo in the Conservative Party's war with itself. Kick them out - and scrap Universal Credit. For a mass programme of job creation, and living benefits for all without compulsion!
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 11 October 2017:
Socialist Party news and analysis
Nasty party imploding...drive out the Tories
Major attacks 'Universal Credit', half a million more face poverty
IMF helps cause inequality it slams
NHS meltdown - fight the Tory cuts
Catalonia
Catalonia: Workers can finish what Puigdemont won't
Black History Month 2017
The fight against racial discrimination is tied to the fight to defeat capitalist austerity
Socialist Party workplace news
Royal Mail workers fight court attempt to stop national strike
Boeing bust-up threatens thousands of skilled jobs
Who's watching who?: The fight for justice, trade union and democratic rights
Housing crisis
Housing crisis: Corbyn's positive measures blanked by Labour's right
No more fire deaths - ensure safety now!
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Don't wreck our rec! Campaigning to save green space in Standish
Carlisle NHS campaigners hand in petition to MP
Cardiff Socialist Students confront 'Parasite' Jacob Rees-Mogg
Manchester rally discussed unionisation and nationalisation
Join the Orgreave Halloween rally
Comment and reviews
Poverty, repression and fightback on the docks
Theresa May, Frida Kahlo and turning women into wares
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