Labour’s recent budget is cruelly Dickensian in an age
of billionaires. We may even see our first trillionaire very soon. And these
two things, as has been underlined on this blog many times, are directly
connected.
Few socio-economic observers with at least one foot in
reality would disagree that the real way out of poverty and decline is for
wages to rise, the wealthy to be efficiently taxed and for work to really pay.
Real wages for really decent jobs mean more tax revenue after all. Our current
system has the state subsidising wealthy companies through supplementing ever poor
wage values.
Many fiscal observers on both sides of The
Pond and in successful EU countries say as much so it’s not complicated, it’s not
a secret.
What Starmer and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves are doing
with their recent slashing of benefits to the most vulnerable, is blowing up
the bridge that gets many of the most financially exposed, over the croc-infested
raging waters of life. And they are doing it before putting the necessary new
measures in place that might lead to an economy where ordinary people can
actually thrive or at least live decently in our late-stage capitalist society
of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.
Starmer & Reeves are implementing survival of
the financially fittest. It’s a sod the poor, disregard the disabled, fail the elderly,
abandon children living in poverty and disgusting housing conditions attitude.
Instead of society sheltering the needy, the super-rich ‘shelter’ their wealth
offshore. Their £millions are, after 40 years of the wreckage of privatisation,
often from the proceeds of the garage sale of our infrastructure. They are no
different, therefore to the oligarchs of post-soviet Russia.
But if Labour are going full Oliver Twist, why
not just re-introduce Work Houses?
Literal and figurative Dickensian attitudes and
callousness are emanating from Labour. Starmer is Mr. Bumble dishing out cold
gruel to ungrateful wretches who dared to hope for 'more' from the party of
Kier Hardie. The first Kier being a Scottish Trade Unionist, true working-class
hero and founder of The Labour Party. See The Herald .
Again, there’s talk of future house building to ease
the shortage. No hard assurances that this government will ensure it is
affordable housing. No mention of the fact that many young folks are hobnailed
not just by prices but the life-crippling student debts they owe. Student loans
were introduced by the last Labour administration and thankfully still kept at
bay here in Scotland. But for how long?
Many of the things the Scottish government has managed
to protect; free prescriptions, free elderly care, publicly owned water
infrastructure - are under threat as the level playing field between
Westminster and Holyrood fails to materialise. Holyrood is left in the
invidious position where anything that goes wrong is blamed on them but without
independence, they do not have the free reign to act like other successful
small independent nations.
It is no coincidence that Finland has been voted the
happiest country for the 8th year in a row with experts citing, among other
things, a “strong welfare system”. But others in the top ranks include,
Denmark, Iceland, Sweden.
Small self-governing nations clearly work. While Scotland is treated like a colonial enclave that should shut up and put up despite differing from England in so many ways and on so many big political issues – some listed above but also, Scotland rejected Brexit, Scotland called for a ceasefire in Gaza when it might have made a difference to Palestinians and hostages.
And up here in Scotland we have the absolutely useless
Labour puppet Anas Sarwar, like the hopeless undertaker Mr Sowerberry in Oliver's story. Though Scottish Labour call themselves that, they
are anything but. They are an uninspiring side-show to Westminster with no
sense of Scotland or its people.
The latest Labour let-down
for ordinary folk is just one more reason why Scotland needs to be able to
work for the people who live here, free of the chains of Westminster colonial
think.
*
Thanks for reading. And, as
always, do check out my other writing -