GETTING TOUGHER ON THE POOR Labour has announced that their “Tougher than the Tories” approach to benefits spending will help them secure a No vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum. They are convinced that their ‘getting tough on the poor’ policy will win the hearts and minds of the people of Scotland who may be swithering on voting Yes . Absolutely fantastic strategy their guys which I am sure will work a treat in the campaign as you canvas from door to door in the housing estates the length and breadth of Scotland. I am sure that when you visit those houses affected by the Bedroom Tax and those poor and vulnerable in our society who have been bullied, intimidated and demonised by this heartless Westminster Government they will be won over by your promise of even tougher sanctions. It would be bloody hilarious if it was not for the fact that it is coming from a political organisation that was created in Scotland to protect the very people you cretins want to get tougher on. The war cry of ‘let’s get tougher on the poor’ might go down a treat in the Home Counties of England with the affluent Conservative voters the Labour Party are so desperate to impress but not in places like Easterhouse in Glasgow where it is estimated 98% of children are either living in poverty or on the brink of living in poverty. It will also be of little comfort to the 210,000 children living in poverty throughout Scotland. Apparently research carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that attitudes towards the ‘Poor’ has hardened since the 1990’s and many people are of the view that those on benefits could do more to get out of poverty and rely too heavily on the generosity of the taxpayers in work. The Labour Party Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, Rachel Reeves is adamant that this hardening of attitudes towards the poor south of the border is echoed in Scotland and she is convinced that the Labour Party policy of ‘Getting Tough on the Poor’ is a vote winner in the 2015 election and a vote winner in the independence referendum in September. She is also convinced that their ‘Get Tough on Benefits’ will help secure a No vote in the campaign against Scottish Independence. There may well be a ground swell of people in Scotland who would support a tougher approach towards welfare spending. The Labour MP for Leeds West may be right that people in Scotland are just as concerned about the huge Welfare Bill as the good people of Leeds West and the good people of England. The worrying thing for me though is this underlying assertion that it is people who are too reliant on benefits or are too lazy to pull themselves out of poverty that are the problem. With an overall Annual Welfare Expenditure at over £202.2 Billion the people of the United Kingdom and in this case the people of Scotland need to take a closer look at where the money goes and ask themselves which benefits Labour intend to get tough on. Of that annual Welfare Budget of £202.2 Billion the amount spent on work related benefits is around £19 Billion and the amount spent on Jobseekers allowance is £5.7 Billion. So if we assume that the research is correct that people think those in poverty are not doing enough to pull themselves out of it then who are we talking about? Is it the people in low paid jobs who are relying on Tax Credits costing the taxpayer £28.8 Billion who should find a better paid job? Is it the people who are claiming Housing Benefit who are costing the taxpayer over £23 Billion or is it the Pensioners who cost the taxpayer a staggering £111 Billion? I am normally loathed to include statistics and figures into any of my arguments because as anyone knows it is too easy to manipulate those statistics and figures to suit a particular position. However, it is worth looking at how the Annual Welfare Budget is comprised so that people can see where the money actually goes and by doing so we can perhaps expel some of the myths. Sourced by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) using Department for Work and Pensions (DPWS) Expenditure Tables: WORKING AGE WELFARE EXPENDITURE: 2013-14: £28.8 Billion Tax Credits £9.5 Billion Employment and Support £5.7 Billion Jobseekers Allowance £3.0 Billion Income Support £0.9 Billion Incapacity Benefit £0.7 Billion Severe Disablement Allowance £17.1 Billion Housing Benefit £10.4 Billion Child Benefit £9.1 Billion Disability Living Allowance £2.0 Billion Carers Allowance £2.0 Billion Others £91.2 Billion Total PENSION AGE WELFARE EXPENDITURE: 2013-14: £63.4 Billion Basic State Pension £18.8 Billion Additional State Pension £10.5 Billion Attendance Allowance/ Disability Allowance £7.3 Billion Pension Credit £6.4 Billion Housing Benefit £2.8 Billion Winter Fuel Allowance / TV Licence Allowance £1.9 Billion Other £111 Billion Total £111 Billion + £91.2 Billion = £202.2 Billion Total Welfare Expenditure Even with a cursory glance at the afore mentioned figures we can see that the amount spent on Housing Benefit which amounts to £23.5 Billion is four times more than the £5.7 Billion spent on those claiming Unemployment Benefit or Jobseekers Allowance as it is officially known. Of that £23.5 Billion spent on Housing Benefit we must ask ourselves how much accounts for Local Authority Rent and how much goes to ‘Private Landlords’. If we accept the concerted efforts by the Westminster Government to stigmatise those claiming Jobseekers Allowance as work shy scroungers then how much of an impact will getting tough on the ‘Unemployed’ make to the Annual Welfare Expenditure given that Job Seekers Allowance only accounts for around 2.8%? When we take a closer look at the figures then we realise that Welfare Expenditure on Pensioners amounts to well over half the total Welfare Budget. Even if you look at the amount claimed by those in work on low wages that is almost six times more than the total spend on Jobseekers Allowance. It therefore begs the question that if the Labour Party are determined to ‘Get Tough on the Poor’ and tackle the staggering Annual Welfare Bill then who are the poor they intend to get tough with? It is clear that forcing the unemployed into training schemes or sanctioning their benefits if they don’t appear to be trying hard enough is just tinkering about the edges and will have little or no impact on the colossal Welfare Expenditure. If Labour are serious about making any impact on that massive Welfare spend then they will have to look at other areas and other groups to reduce the bill and the pressure on the Taxpayer. It is when we are forced to consider that possibility through sheer logic that we realise that perhaps there is a hidden agenda and the sustained attack on the so called lazy scroungers on the dole is perhaps a smoke screen for something much worse to come. Maybe they do have an argument for reducing the massive Welfare Bill and the burden on the taxpayer but one wonders where the hell they will make a difference and who will eventually end up paying the price. The New Labour politics would not leave such a bad taste in the mouth if they were as determined to tackle other areas of expenditure such as the scandalous amounts of taxpayers money that have been used to prop up a corrupt and greedy Banking Sector and an equally corrupt and greedy Financial Sector that costs the taxpayers tens if not hundreds of Billions in ‘Tax Avoidance’. Westminster volunteered over £850 Billion of taxpayer’s money to bail out the banks during the Banking Crisis resulting in many being practically owned by the state. Yet those Banks are now awarding themselves obscene bonuses even higher than they were prior to the crisis in 2008. Large Corporations are costing the taxpayer an average of £35 Billion per year in Tax Avoidance according to HMRC figures although HMRC admit that is just an estimate based on sampling. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) estimated that the real cost of Tax Avoidance is closer to £110 Billion per year. Even if we accept Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs very ‘Conservative’ estimate of £35 Billion that is still £5 Billion more than the entire Annual Grant for Scotland under the Barnett Formula which is around £30 Billion. The Labour Party which was created in Scotland is a million miles away from that grass roots organisation inspired by the Founding Fathers such as Keir Hardie. There are almost a million people in Scotland living in poverty or on the brink of poverty of which around 210,000 of those are children. Out of a population just over five million that is a scandalous situation and when we consider that the Labour Party have enjoyed the support of the majority of Scots for almost eighty years. I am beyond anger at the fact the Labour Party has betrayed the very people it was created to protect in preference to its quest to appeal to a more affluent Conservative voter. My anger has been superseded by sadness that the vast majority of citizens in Scotland and in the United Kingdom are not wealthy and affluent Conservative voters and are no longer able to rely on the Labour Party for protection. The Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, Rachel Reeves may know something I don’t that enables her to predict attacking the poor even more will help secure a No vote. Dear God women I sincerely hope you and your ilk are made to eat those words come the 19th of September. Chic Macgregor
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 18:37:42 +0000
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