Unity

From Unity, 19 June 2010

Editorial

Resist the parasites

From the first day it took office the government has been conducting a softening-up exercise to convince people that there is no alternative to the policy of cutting public expenditure.
     The recent proposal from David Cameron that there would be public consultation as to where the cuts should be is an example of government by gimmickry and would obviously appeal to the more selfish elements in society—something the Tories are good at.
     What the government is not detailing is the number of jobs likely to be lost in the public sector through the cuts; but the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has certainly put a figure on it in a report published last week. In its estimation, 750,000 public-sector workers will lose their jobs as a result of government policy. It also estimates that the level of unemployment as a result—nearly 3 million—will remain at that number until 2015, the entire period of office of the government.
     The report states that higher unemployment and then a higher benefits bill present a dilemma to a government supposedly pledged to “protect people living in poverty and enhance social mobility.” This comes on top of a signal by the government that its spending review will extend to the level of welfare benefits and the range of people entitled to receive them.
     The CIPD report also made the point that a majority of those workers likely to lose their jobs will be women in part-time, low-paid work.
     The report referred to Canada, where in the 1990s the government embarked on a public-spending cuts spree, which reduced public-sector employment by 265,000, out of a work force of 3 million. One Canadian contributor to the Guardian wrote of the “fevered political atmosphere and deficit mania” that reigned there at the time and its “deep impact on the quality of life for all Canadians.” It does not need to be spelt out what impact a “deficit mania” would have on the Northern Ireland economy, and it equally does not need to be spelt out what needs to be done in opposing the cuts.
     Alongside the government, its allies in the Confederation of British Industry have also demanded that the public sector bear the brunt of any cuts. On top of this, with brass-necked arrogance, they have also urged the government to spare the wealthy from changes in capital gains tax. Obviously feeling very confident, they also urged that the top rate of tax be reduced from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.
     Do working people need any more impetus to resist the Tories and Lib Dems and their parasitical friends?

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