Austerity - a choice, not a necessity

Austerity was a choice, not a necessity, made by successive Tory governments since 2010, supported by the Liberal Democrats. Their aim was ideological - to reduce the role of the state. They cut funding to councils, changed the benefits system, passed a law which allowed the privatization of the NHS, reduced police numbers, fire stations, access to legal aid and the job market became an insecure and untrustworthy system for many. Council cuts have resulted in fewer libraries, bus services, post offices and the selling off of public assets.

So what has nine years of Conservative rule actually given us: food banks, increased child poverty, in work poverty, tax cuts for the rich and the gig economy. Tory governments never do anything that improves the lot of the ordinary person yet with a biased media supporting them and with a steady drip, drip of criticism of Corbyn the very people who would benefit from a Labour government have been imbued with the false consciousness that turns them against the party set up to help them.

As a result of these changes life has become cheap, with suicide increasing dramatically, life expectancy figures reduced and in work poverty increased. According to the Joseph Rowntree Trust “We all want to live in a society where work provides a reliable route out of poverty, but currently one in eight UK workers are trapped in poverty: that’s just over 4 million people being held back”. Low wages mean employees have to rely on benefits subsidies and food banks.

Within the last few weeks Shropshire was “welcoming” two notable pieces of news. The first was announced by MP, Philip Dunne, crowing on Facebook about the reduction in unemployment figures in the county. The second was an article in the Shropshire Star about the opening of another food bank in Shropshire.

Before the financial crash in 2008 the Trussell Trust had established just two food banks and the concept was virtually unknown in the UK. In April of this year there were 2,000, with the Trussell Trust accounting for 1,200 of them. The number of supplies being distributed has risen by 73% over the past five years. The Trust puts particular blame on the huge rise in their use on the transition period in the benefits system to Universal Credit.

For Mr Dunne, then, having people in work is something to be pleased about, even if they can’t afford to live a half decent life on the wages earned and have to rely on food banks and benefits to get by. What values motivate him and his Tory cohorts? Certainly not care and compassion for their fellow humans. Only a truly socialist government with a radical manifesto will turn this country around and make it one to be good to be living in for the many, not the few.

— Aphra Behn

Debbie Brown and Angela Flowers at the Cleobury Mortimer food bank