Fight for decent jobs and welfare
Come to Socialism2015 – www.socialism2015.net
A weekend of discussion and debate – 7&8 November, central London
Becci Heagney
David Cameron announced at the Tory Party conference his “all-out war on poverty”. It’s clear that what he meant was an “all-out war on the poor”.
After promising not to cut Child Benefit, the Tories are slashing tax credits including Child Tax Credit. Already one in four working people earn less than the living wage, cutting in-work benefits will mean that 3.3 million families will lose £1,300 a year on average.
These are not just statistics, they are real people just trying to get by. The Tories got a taste of this when Michelle Dorrell made her emotional attack on Amber Rudd MP over tax credits during Question Time. Millions of people will be feeling the same way. In fact, 70% of the tax credits cuts will fall on mothers in work. So much for standing up for “hard-working families”.
The Tory Party’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. A report by ‘Bright Blue’ – a conservative think tank – argues that child benefit should be cut if parents don’t send their children to pre-school from the age of two or three.
Families
It recommends Sure Start centres. Since the Con-Dem government cut funding to the service, over 200 around the country have closed or are threatened with closure. Liverpool City Council are closing 23 out of 26 centres, Newcastle City Council are attempting to close every single one.
Not for decades has there been such an attack by the rich on the poor – it is no exaggeration to describe this as the Tories’ warfare on welfare. 90 people a month died after being declared ‘fit-for-work’ between 2011 and 2014. We need to fight back.
We demand an end to and reversal of all benefit cuts. We support a cap on rents, not benefits, with a mass council house-building programme. We need a £10 an hour minimum wage with guaranteed hours.
Socialism 2015 will be tackling these issues and more. The cut to tax credits has been described as Cameron’s “Poll Tax moment”. Mass non-payment of the hated tax, led by Militant (forerunner of the Socialist Party), brought down Thatcher – we need a similar movement to bring down Cameron.
