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From: The Socialist issue 827, 1 October 2014: Pay cuts: Angry and ready to strike!

Search site for keywords: Them & Us - London - Hospital - Labour - Disabled - Health - Debt - George Osborne - Austerity - Ed Miliband

Them & Us

Priority, it's Ed

'Move aside - the Labour leader is coming through!'

Party conference organisers, who wanted photogenic shots of Ed Miliband exiting the platform after his speech and glad-handing "bright young things", apparently removed disabled delegates from reserved seats at the front of the hall.

One disabled delegate, Bernadette Horton, who fell over after being told to move, said: "I am flabbergasted that the Labour Party is treating its delegates as second class citizens."

"Disabled and carers were not mentioned in the speech at all", she added.

Mind the gap

Austerity, Chancellor George Osborne's cure all for our economic woes, is - surprise, surprise - not working!

The hapless Tory has been forced to increase government borrowing as the deficit has increased by £700 million over the last year. Instead of borrowing 12% less this year he has been obliged to borrow 6% more.

Cutting the taxes of high earners and corporations, along with the weakest wage growth in the UK on record, has meant that an anticipated 6.5% increase in tax and national insurance contributions has actually been a fall of 0.8%.

Fairy tale of London

The housing price bubble in London continues to inflate, with the average property now costing an unaffordable average of £467,000. According the Land Registry, London house prices have risen by 21.6% in the last year and have increased by an astronomical 500% since 1995.

The capital's house prices are so high that that global accountancy firm KPMG is linking up with Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks to give its well-paid professionals a leg up onto the property ladder. KPMG's chairman Simon Collins said: "Owning a home is fast becoming a fairy tale for all but society's wealthiest." You said it!

Predictable failure

Management at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, the first privately run NHS hospital, has been slammed in a leaked letter by CQC inspectors for appalling standards of patient care.

In November 2011 a ten-year £1 billion contract to run the hospital was awarded to private vulture company Circle Health after Hinchingbrooke had been labelled a 'failed' hospital with £40 million of debt. Half of this debt had been created in error by the previous Labour-run Department of Health failing to pay agreed tariffs for patient services. The remainder was due to a costly Private Finance Initiative scheme to rebuild the hospital front.

Back then the company had admitted its business strategy was under strain, saying this "could affect its ability to provide a consistent level of service to its patients".

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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.