Punishing the jobless for being jobless - No to New Labour's welfare counter-reforms

Work and pensions secretary, James Purnell, has announced a major attack on benefits claimants in his new welfare green paper. His claim that the changes will "transform lives" will be borne out, but disgracefully it will be in a transformation for the worse for large numbers of the poorest people in society. Tory leader David Cameron heaped praise on the paper, saying that he is "thrilled" with it and that most of it will be fully supported by his party.

All 4.5 million people on 'out-of-work' benefits will be affected, as major benefits will be renamed and altered. But the main aim of the changes is to force at least one million people off out-of-work benefits altogether.

The draconian measures include forcing people to work for their paltry dole money. After one year of unemployment, claimants will have to do four weeks of work, as if they have to be punished for being out of work. After two years, they will have to work continuously for their benefits, doing work "such as community work". Previously only people with criminal convictions have been forced to do community work.

Incapacity claimants are to face potentially harrowing questioning and tests to force large numbers off benefit. They will have to have a medical check from someone other than their GP.

Single parents will have to seek work when their youngest child is seven. Drug addicts will be 'required' to have treatment. Only full time carers and the severely disabled will escape similar coercion.

If this was not bad enough, the proposals go alongside measures to increase private sector delivery of welfare, consequently reducing jobs in the public sector and ensuring that the profit motive will come before delivery of good quality services.

Purnell has thrown in some small sweeteners.

Slightly higher benefit will be given to those who get through the new incapacity tests. Money given to lone parents from ex-partners will not be deducted from their benefits. Businesses will be offered more funding to help them employ disabled people. Treatment facilities for drug addicts are to be increased.

Hypocrisy

But these limited measures will not mitigate the effects of the attacks for most claimants. One illustration of this is that funding for the access-to-work programme which presently helps 24,000 disabled people to find work or stay in work will be doubled. But a doubling means this will only potentially help around 48,000 people instead of 24,000, when the government aims to force one million off incapacity benefit.

Much higher funding measures should be introduced while leaving intact the right to claim benefits without sanctions and harassment, and while increasing benefits to a level that can be lived on. But such improvements would be completely contrary to New Labour's cuts and privatisation agenda.

If the government really wants to help people who are out of work, it would not have cut £2 billion from the Department for Work and Pensions. However, the greatest barriers to reducing unemployment are a lack of longterm, well paid jobs, decent childcare, workplace facilities for disabled people, and so on.

Ironically the government tries to dress up its proposals as part of the fight against poverty, sometimes using the slogan 'work works'. But over half of children living in poverty are in working households. Millions of people in poverty are on low wages that make them little better off than being on benefits. Where community work is needed, it should be properly paid to provide real jobs, not forced out of people for £1.60 an hour as Parnell proposes.

This green paper comes at a time when the economy is fast tipping into recession. The number of people on unemployment benefit has risen by 45,000 since the end of January and hundreds of thousands more jobs are likely to go. The Ernst and Young Item Club thinktank has described the economic outlook as a "horror movie".

With its budget deficit heading way over its forecasts, the government is determined to step up its attacks on basic benefits. The budget deficit for the first three months of the financial year was a record £20.4 billion, up £12.5 billion from the same period last year. It is set to worsen further, as the slowing economy means lower government tax receipts.

Meanwhile the super rich evade an estimated £42 billion of taxes a year and the chancellor is backing off from introducing some limited tax-avoidance measures for the top UK corporations because of their cries of alarm. Yet the cries of alarm of the poorest in society are ignored.

Hundreds of thousands of the poorest and most vulnerable people are to be made to suffer further while the super rich are left to wallow in massive luxury. This green paper must be vigorously opposed.

Article by Judy Beishon, from this weeks 'The Socialist'

Good riddance

Devon Socialist Party would just like say, to ex-PM Tony Blair, a fond farewell. We have much to thank 'Tony' for, not least hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, Afghanis, Lebanese, British and Americans, low wage Britain being a haven for exploitative big business, the privatisation and destruction of the NHS, Royal Mail/Post Office, education and many others, the continued death of manufacturing and agriculture, racist attacks on immigrants, the continuing disgrace of public transport, the failure to build any affordable social housing, the fast erosion of civil liberties, keeping the most restrictive trade union laws in western Europe, and I could go on all night.

We welcome the new PM, Tweedledum to Mr Blair's Tweedledee, Mr Brown. Mr Brown excitingly promises a 'new kind of politics' and 'change'. It's a good job Mr Brown didn't vote for and support any of the things I outlined above, otherwise unkind people might call him an unprincipled careerist hypocrite, a warmongerer, privatiser and job slasher.

Devon Socialist Party (and the Socialist Party nationally) looks forward to fighting war and occupation, cuts and privatisations whenever they might be imposed by Mr Brown or his lieutenants - and work towards building a genuine alternative for workers, campaigners, socialists and youth, by campaigning for a new workers' party. If you want to join us in our campaigns and struggles, please email socialistpartydevon@googlemail.com or if you are interested in the Campaign for a New Workers' Party click here.

The man in the photo, by the way, is John Howson, who was protesting outside Downing Street this morning (when Blair was doing his usual hammy routine on the steps of Number 10) alongside other campaigners from Military Families Against the War.

Exeter branch meeting 8/5/07

In a lively branch meeting, we discussed issues ranging from the Scottish elections to carbon emissions trading to the BNP.

Secretary JT (for reasons of security - BNP members operate a charming website called 'Redwatch' which publishes details of socialists with the aim of fascist thugs beating them up - we use initials in these branch meeting reports) opened the meeting with his analysis of the recent elections. He highlighted the fact that despite New Labour's annihilation in Scotland and retreat in Wales, they had not done so bad in England. In some parts of the country, such as the large northern cities and Coventry, the New Labour vote actually went up. JT pinned this on the fears of many traditional Labour voters of the return of a Tory government, which despite Cameron's soft soaping, is rightly dreaded by most working class people. It may also be due to Blair's imminent departure and illusions that still exist in Gordon Brown. The BNP had not done as well as hoped, and though they gained one seat overall, they lost four seats they previously held, demonstrating that once people see what they are really about they are quickly ditched.

In the discussion that followed this opening, those at the meeting generally agreed with the analysis about the fortunes of the Labour Party. JL also voiced his view that anti-fascist campaigning had to put forward an alternative (in the form of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party) or else be pointless in combating the conditions that the BNP thrive in - the lack of a political alternative to the parties of cuts and privatisation.

Linking the opening discussion with the main discussion on the environment, chair AC noted the progress of the Greens in this election and how they are seen by many as a left wing alternative. Many attending the meeting had examples of opportunism and right wing policies pursued by the Greens, for example voting through budgets cutting services in Lewisham and Kirklees in exchange for a few pitiful concessions such as slightly increased recycling, and proposing increasing already extortionate hospital car parking prices and raising the idea of congestion charging in North Devon.

In the organisational section of the meeting the issue of the press fund was raised - the party needs to replace its ageing printing press with some more modern equipment and, having no rich backers, we rely on the financial sacrifices of our members to get things done. Many Exeter Socialist Party members have pledged outstanding amounts to the fund.

JT raised the request by the Irish Socialist Party for England and Wales Socialist Party members to help with their election campaign. In the May 24th election we hope to have Joe Higgins TD (member of the Irish parliament the Dail) re-elected and Cllr. Clare Daly elected.

Also, with the CNWP conference on Saturday, it was confirmed that there will be 5 CNWP supporters attending what should be a historic and inspiring event.

TA led the main discussion on the environment with a wide ranging introduction touching on the science behind climate change, the wilful inactivity of Governments due to obsession with short term rapid economic growth and close relations with the fossil fuel industry. TA left us all to draw our conclusions when he revealed that the Association of Petroleum Geologists was the only scientific body, presumably twinned with the organisation 'Turkeys Against Christmas'.

TA outlined the forces inherent within capitalism that not only cause this tremendous environmental destruction but also render it incapable of doing anything meaningful to solve the problem - in fact the private free-market in energy means decisions are based on profit not social and environmental need - the prices of different fuels dictating whether they would be used in power stations regardless of the carbon dioxide burning them releases.

There were many viable solutions in terms of energy conservation and using greener energy, and while individuals did have a responsibility to act in an environmentally friendly way, ultimately this would be a drop in the ocean while big business pollutes the planet.

In the discussion following TA's lead off, the fact that science is not divorced from society was raised. For instance, the original report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) written by scientists and much more robust in its conclusions and recommendations, was watered down dramatically by Governments to make it more vague and avoid pinning the blame on Governments and big business.

The idea of a democratically planned economy as a counterpoint to the capitalist free market anarchy we currently live in was also raised. In a democratically planned economy, long term decisions would be democratically made regarding energy generation, enabling mass construction of renewable energy facilities, coupled with a programme of energy efficiency. For example, Cuba, a planned economy (not democratically planned, so there are inefficiences and flaws) was able to pursue a programme of replacing all of its lightbulbs with energy efficient lightbulbs. Cuba is also recognised by the UN as the only environmentally sustainable country in the world. If a poor country which doesn't have the undoubted advantages of having its planning democratically controlled, think what democratic socialist planning could achieve in a rich country like Britain.

All the capitalist apologists can muster is a 'carbon emissions trading scheme' - whereby licences to pollute are bought and sold in a kind of stock exchange. In other words, the capitalists have even found a way to make money out of environmental damage! The scheme is ineffective at reducing carbon dioxide emissions though.

The issue of 'Green taxes' was also raised. As socialists we would oppose all taxes such as Green taxes, that disproportionately affect ordinary working class people - a tax on air travel would prevent a normal family from going abroad on holiday, but the rich Government minister would be able to travel without restriction! We favour democratic socialist planning as a solution to environmental problems, not reducing living conditions for ordinary people.

As luck would have it, there happens to be an excellent article on alternative energy sources in this week's copy of the socialist, the weekly newspaper of the Socialist Party, an indispensible read for workers and youth: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/2007/485/index.html?id=pp1183.htm

Apologies to any who attended yesterday's meeting whose contributions I have missed off, I do remember it being an excellent discussion with a lot of interesting, relevant and insightful points put forward by all those who spoke, but I can't remember everything and didn't take extensive notes, and this post has gone on quite long anyway. It would be great though if we could have a bit of debate in the comments section on some of the points raised at the meeting.