It feels like I’m living in some sort of awful rerun of the eighties, only so much faster. Once again we have a UK government devoted to bringing down the welfare bill while simultaneously devastating communities. That nasty little tick Iain Duncan Smith with his “this will hurt me more than you” and “it’s for your own good you know” smile is the only new element replacing, as he does, the decidedly unCameronesque “on your bike” Thatcherism.
But the facts are the same. The Coalition talks about bringing down the welfare bill by squeezing the disabled, capping housing benefit and forcing people to take filthy jobs they just aren’t suited to but the logic of their wider economic policies means that despite themselves the bill keeps rising, just like it did in the eighties.
The welfare bill is to rise by one and a half billion pounds this year – half that rise comes from increasing joblessness and half from the rising numbers who are grossly underpaid, often through the combination of poor pay and lack of hours.
If the coalition were serious about bringing down the welfare bill they would consider measures like increasing the minimum wage to a living wage, say £8.10 per hour. This would save around £6bn a year in Tax Credits, plus saving local government paying out Council Tax and Housing Benefits to those on poverty wages – because they’re not on poverty wages any more. But this isn’t even on the agenda.
It’s almost as if it wasn’t the government’s money they actually wanted to save, but their plutocratic donors.
We’re likely to see the worst of both worlds over the next few years where the bill keeps going up and the most vulnerable in society find themselves the scapegoats for other people’s policies. That won’t just mean hurt feelings but will result in desperate poverty, rising homelessness and (let’s get Christmassy) suicide.
If the coalition is not careful they might forget why they have to pay dole in the first place, and it isn’t to easy their pretty little consciences but to keep the poorest with at least one toe in society’s door.
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