by Thomas Kiernan,
Respect Party Member
At 21 years of age, I
occasionally come under the generalised criticism of knowing nothing about
‘real politics’. This is far more common when people learn I am an ardent
supporter of politicians such as the Respect MP for Bradford West, George
Galloway, as well as veteran Labour MP for Bolsover, Dennis Skinner. What these critics mean by real politics, I
have often found, is little more than their own opinions about economic
philosophy, political ideology and why the Conservative Party has the best of
both. So, in order to put that criticism to bed, this article will be mainly
dedicated to the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition which has run roughshod during
my time as both a college student and law student at Lancaster University.
David Cameron famously stated at
the 2010 Conservative Party conference that “we’re all in this together”. He
was, of course, referring to his party’s economic austerity programme which was
about to sweep across the entire United Kingdom. He assured us that everybody
would feel the pinch and that we would all face the outcome of ‘difficult
decisions’ made by Cameron, Osborne and his seemingly out-of-touch ministers.
It only took a month for the universities minister to announce that students
would be the first to be pinched, with tuition fees tripled from £3000 to £9000
and an economic warning shot fired across the bow of the less-well off students
amongst us. Nick Clegg and the majority of his party’s MPs sold their largest
political fan base (the student population) and will hopefully suffer
substantial losses at the 2015 general election. They certainly deserve it.
In 2012, George Osborne released
a budget which saw a primary attempt to shield their true allegiances. Whilst
they increased the tax threshold for millions of poorly paid workers, which is
to be welcomed, they decreased the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p and there
are suspicions that this will be reduced to 40p before the end of this
Parliament. Labour were guilty of not raising the top rate of tax for over a
decade, but the Conservatives have insisted that we’re all in this together.
Whilst the rate of people’s disposable income continues to spiral in real
terms, those earning over £150,000 will see their rates of disposable income
increase when it is simply not necessary. Basic economics tells you that the
less-well off spend a greater percentage of their income, whilst those tax
breaks at the top are more likely to be saved and thus taken out of the economy
altogether. Imagine the savings made by millionaires in Britain. Just imagine.
Rich people were definitely not going to be pinched.
And then there is Iain Duncan
Smith’s wonderful bedroom tax which came into force from April 2013, or the
removal of the spare room subsidy for the more pedantic critics. I would prefer
to call a spade a spade, and argue it to be the most demonising policy against
the truly struggling in recent history. The government assured us that this
would save money, ensure that more houses were available and would not
significantly impact those set to lose money as a result. He failed
magnificently on all three accounts. Almost immediately, we heard of people who
could not find a place to live and instead had to suffer a draconian cut to
their welfare payments. Approximately 6% of people have moved and the measure
has been argued to have cost more than it saved. It is a truly damning reality
of how the Conservative Party has attacked the welfare state. To round it all off, our own chancellor had
the nerve to consider the story of Mick Philpott as a valid platform in which
to support IDS’ reform of the welfare system. The poorer amongst us have almost
certainly been pinched.
Then we have the recent case of
Maria Miller’s expenses scandal. The Tory minister gave both Parliament and the
public a half-hearted apology and made it clear to the voters that she did not
feel as though she had wronged us. The Prime Minister and the Tory chairman
Grant Shapps have vehemently defended Millers conduct after her expenses were
exposed, truly highlighting that they do not recognise the reality which would
befall any member of the public caught acting in such a way. They would be
grilled, sacked and ridiculed as a thief, or at best cascaded as an
unapologetic and ungrateful employee. Mrs Miller proved herself to be worse: an
ungrateful public servant. To put the cherry on the cake, Cameron has replaced
the position of Minister for Women, a post held by Miller, with Nicky Morgan. A
woman who has a voting record which shows she is a two-time opponent of
same-sex marriage (the Minister for Straight
Women?) and a supporter of policies which would reduce the reproductive
choices of women (the Minister against
Women?).
I could write about so many more
policies, but I just wished to highlight the main reasons why I am a fervent
supporter of the left in British politics. I will support any party which
wishes to better the lives of working class and middle class people in Britain.
The rich do not need assistance as long as they exist in a capitalist system
which already supports them before a Conservative government decides to further
their interests. I refuse to support a party which demonises the poor and
encourages different members of society to blame other members for their own
hardship. Austerity has only resulted in a squeeze for those who need the
State’s hand in a recession: the poor, the disabled and the young who are
simply in search of a better future for themselves. Instead, we have a society
which supports the vilification of those in need and those who have strived to
help them, for example the late and great RMT leader Bob Crow. Until this
significantly changes, I see no reason to change my support for parties such as
Respect and I encourage anybody reading this article to do the same. As it
stands, not even the Labour Party does enough to support those worse-off and a
serious question needs to be asked of so many Labour MP’s today.
What reason exactly was it that
caused the Labour party to form in 1900?
Thank you for reading,
Thomas Kiernan
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