… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Cost of Living crisis

  • Jeremy Corbyn: Surprise, surprise – Labour is reaping what it has sown

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    Image of Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
    Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-new-party-labour-uk-poverty-b2827322.html

    Instead of addressing child poverty, homelessness, poor working conditions or any of the real issues impacting this country, Labour has chosen to deflect the blame and pour billions into arms, says Jeremy Corbyn. Britain is tired of having no political choice – and we’re here to fix that

    …

    Over the past year, the government has continued a programme of austerity and privatisation. It has refused to lift the two-child benefit cap, the single biggest driver of child poverty. It has tried to take away the winter fuel allowance. It has increased the bus fare cap. And it has tried to take away £5bn from disabled people, curating a two-tiered benefit system that deprives thousands of people of a dignified life.

    There is one area where the government has been very generous, though: arms spending. Government military spending is now at £31.7bn, which is a 6 per cent increase in real terms from last year. Imagine how much better ordinary people’s lives would be if we spent that money on schools, hospitals and green energy instead.

    …

    People have had enough of a political regime that serves the interests of billionaires and corporations. They have had enough of a government that inflicts suffering at home and enables genocide abroad. They have had enough of broken promises from political parties that fail to deliver real change.

    Original article at https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-new-party-labour-uk-poverty-b2827322.html

    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
    Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
    Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
    Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine 'Private Eye'.
    Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.

  • ‘It’s time for a grown-up conversation about taxing wealth’

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/its-time-grown-conversation-about-taxing-wealth

     model houses on a pile of coins and bank notes

    TUC hits back at banking boss who suggested public-sector pay should be curbed because the economy falling

    …

    TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said that while the government has “taken the right approach” by investing in public services and infrastructure, “the job of securing growth is far from over — and more support is needed to see that investment sustained in the long term.”

    “That’s why it’s time for a grown-up conversation about taxing wealth and financial institutions,” he said.

    “It’s only right that banks, gambling companies and the wealthiest in our society contribute their fair share to fund our schools, hospitals and local authorities.

    “The government needs to ensure it can repair and rebuild our vital public services along with wider critical national infrastructure.”

    Mr Nowak also called on the Bank of England to further Bank of England to “ease the pressure on household budgets and to make it more affordable for businesses to invest.”

    …

    Ooriginal article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/its-time-grown-conversation-about-taxing-wealth

  • Austerity is the midwife of fascism

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  • Morning Star Editorial: The neoliberal model of privatised water is sunk

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/neoliberal-model-privatised-water-sunk

     A tanker from Thames Water

    INVESTMENT in Britain’s water utilities took a dive under Thatcher’s government. By 1980 investment by the regional water authorities dropped by two-thirds as the neoliberal straitjacket into which public expenditure was confined limited their ability to raise capital.

    Contrast this to the present situation where the now privatised water companies have racked up millions in loans that seem more valued as a source of ready cash to pay bonuses, dividends and sweeteners than infrastructure investment.

    The total debt burden of the dozen privately owned water companies stands at £65 billion which this year’s Commons report says is perilously close to the 70 per cent gearing at which commercial credibility is compromised.

    Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, which has been involved in legal challenges to a number of water companies, says: “The water sector has been poorly regulated for decades. It has been poorly regulated primarily by allowing water companies to over extract water from aquifers and reservoirs but also cash from operating entities within the water companies, and they’ve been allowed to underinvest in water infrastructure.”

    …

    The logical case for public ownership is sometimes challenged by the suggestion that taking these failing enterprises into public ownership would be prohibitively expensive.

    This is, of course, true if these enterprises were to offered for sale at the price their owners value them. A socialist government armed with a popular mandate and backed by a working class armed with both resolve and the necessary instruments of coercion might simply dispossess these rapacious incompetents and instruct them, individually and as a class, to find an alternative way of making a living freed of the responsibilities of ownership.

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/neoliberal-model-privatised-water-sunk

  • ‘Never-ending cost-of-living crisis’

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never-ending-cost-living-crisis

     An online energy bill

    Labour urged to reform energy pricing over surprise rise in bills

    LABOUR was urged to reform energy pricing yesterday as unions and campaigners warned that a surprise 2 per cent rise in bills will hit 12 million homes already in fuel poverty.

    GMB union hit out at the “never-ending cost-of-living crisis” after regulator Ofgem announced that the average household’s energy bill is to rise to £1,755 a year from October — despite wholesale prices falling by 2 per cent over the past three months.

    Standing charges — the figure consumers pay per day to have energy supplied to their homes — are set to rise by 4 per cent for electricity and a whopping 14 per cent for gas, or 7p a day.

    The 2.21 per cent year-on-year rise means average annual energy bills will be £713 higher than in winter 2020/21.

    GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast said: “People are already struggling under a never-ending cost-of-living crisis.

    “Any increase in energy prices could crash millions of household budgets.

    “To make any green transition work, the UK has to be pragmatic: taking advantage of cheap gas prices to cut bills instead of subsidising heat pumps for the richest.

    “The poorest in society must not be the ones who bear the biggest burden for saving our planet.”

    Energy minister Michael Shanks blamed wholesale gas prices remaining 75 per cent above their levels before Russia invaded Ukraine. 

    But End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “We need urgent reforms to fix the broken pricing system, steps to ensure households benefit from targeted support for cold homes, a nationwide insulation and ventilation drive, reform of energy trading rules and lower standing charges.

    “Meanwhile, expansion of renewables and upgrading the grid must be funded by investment or by tackling excess network and energy company profits, not by loading more costs onto struggling households.”

    Pointing out that gas unit rates remain almost double pre-crisis levels and the cost of electricity in Britain is set by the most expensive generator — usually gas-fired power stations — he added: “It’s time for action — wind and solar are far cheaper ways of generating power and North Sea gas reserves are unable to meet domestic heating needs from 2027.”

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never-ending-cost-living-crisis