Harriet Harman. Photo from Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)

Harriet Harman. Photo from Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Sarah Sachs-Eldrdge

“Slaughter of first-borns could save £50 billion in Child Benefit, pledges Cameron,” read a headline following the budget when the Tories stopped child benefit to parents after two children. It was only on reading the full article that it became clear it was a wind-up – because there was no mention of Labour backing for the policy!

That’s what Labour did in reality. Shadow leader Harriet Harman stepped forward and said ‘me too’ on behalf of her party. Really there was nothing newsworthy in this. In January, only five Labour MPs voted against £35 billion of spending cuts that includes this budget.

Labour’s manifesto actually included support for the welfare cap. So far from ‘taking on the party’ as has been reported, Harman represents ‘Continuity Labour’.

But her actions have sparked a response among the Labour leadership hopefuls. One, (who some describe as ‘David Cameron incarnate’) Liz Kendall, has backed Harman. The other three, Jeremy Corbyn, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper have all registered some degree of opposition to the cut.

From Burnham this is somewhat surprising considering his own campaign manager, Rachel Reeves, was the one who said that Labour must not be seen as the party of benefit claimants.

Maybe he’s motivated by the boos at GMB conference his support for benefit cuts earned him or the threat posed by Corbyn’s anti-austerity stance.

A Corbyn win can’t be ruled out. But it would lead to a Battle Royale with Labour’s apparatus over control of the party.

Harman, in defending her stance to the backbenchers, said that now is not a good time to “campaign against the public”. But the opinions of the ‘public’ were not expressed in the Tory victory – only 24% of the electorate voted for them. They have no mandate. The ‘public’, the working class that is, expresses itself daily in acts of solidarity.

Resistance

The PCS civil service union has voted for strike action against the implementation of the vicious Universal Credit in Glasgow and Bolton.

Every day there are picket lines where workers support each other, teams of bailiff busters defending homes, and other solidarity actions. Labour is not there – such action is a closed room to them. Working class solidarity has no mass political voice.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) says it will lodge an amendment opposing the welfare bill and has called on Labour opponents of the bill to vote against Tory plans to cut tax credits. This is just posturing. The SNP has passed on Tory austerity in Scotland. When the SNP scrapped the bedroom tax it was under immense pressure from a developing opposition movement.

Solidarity and 100% opposition to austerity are the hallmarks of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), in which the Socialist Party plays a leading role.

TUSC is an important step towards building an independent, mass political voice for the working class. Its starting point is to reject the lie that is austerity – cuts are not necessary – and to fight them.