Tory Austerity and Economic “Recovery”: “A Lost Decade of Income”

Last week, the TUC released a damning report on the drastic decline in real wages in the UK in the wake of the financial crisis. The findings, to me, are staggering.

The report, which compared real wage change and employment rate change across OECD countries, found that real wages in the UK fell by 10.4% between 2007 and 2015, a decline only matched by Greece.

Comparatively, the average change in wages across OECD countries was an increase of 6.7%. The UK, Greece, and Portugal were the only countries to see a fall in real wages eight years after the financial crisis.

While a Treasury spokesperson said that the analysis ignored the UK’s growth in employment, a number of OECD countries, including Poland, Germany, Estonia, and Hungary saw real wages grow while also increasing employment at a higher rate than in the UK. Germany, a country with an economy of comparable size to the UK, saw wages rise by 13.9% since the financial crisis, while also increasing employment by more than eight times that of the UK.

This report provides clear evidence that the Tory agenda of austerity has failed. Real wages have declined at a shocking rate, while employment has barely crept up. Meanwhile, the most vulnerable in society have paid the highest price for the greed of the banks.

The full statistics used in the report can be found here: https://www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/labour-market/uk-workers-experienced-sharpest-wage-fall-any-leading-economy-tuc

Autumn Statement Confirms Tories Intend to Impose a Decade of Austerity

The Autumn Statement given today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osbourne, has served as confirmation that the Conservative UK Government intends to impose a decade of austerity.

Mr Osbourne made claims that the Tories have provided “economic recovery for all”. When so many do not have suitable housing, depend on food banks to be able to feed their children, live in cold, damp homes because they are unable to pay for rising fuel costs, struggle to find suitable employment and ultimately, when so many are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, I fail to see how any recent growth in the economy has benefited anyone but the rich, bankers and corporations.

The gap between the rich and the poor is larger than ever. The “one percent”, the financial sector, and corporations are pulling away from the rest of society, helped along by not having to pay tax. And despite claims otherwise from this Tory UK government, social mobility has been stagnating for years.

Much of the funding to the welfare system Mr Osbourne intends to cut, £12 billion, has been a lifeline for so many in both Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, and around the country. These cuts are an affront to everyday families. The willingness of this Conservative UK government to take money out of the pockets of everyday people and families in order to fund tax breaks for corporations and the financial sector is abhorrent.

I welcome the desire of Mr Osbourne to tackle the housing crisis. However, the changes he has introduced will only make the crisis worse.

The changes he has introduced in regards to the selling of council owned property are seemingly designed to encourage councils to sell off even more homes in order to prop up their own services, the funding for which has been decimated by Tory budget cuts. I have met numerous constituents in dire need of housing who are stuck on incredibly long waiting lists. With such a shortage of council houses, encouraging councils to sell off more property for short-term gain will only make the housing crisis even worse.

The new affordable homes the UK Government plans to build will be available to buy. I fail to see how this will help the many households currently living paycheck to paycheck in this age of austerity. When your family can barely afford groceries, saving for a deposit on a mortgage is nearly impossible.

The extension of the right to buy on housing association tenants introduced by this Tory Government will further reduce the affordable housing stock available to rent for so many households living paycheck to paycheck.

The Tories again have demonstrated that their ideology of austerity takes precedent over nearly everything else, and that everyday working individuals and families are far from a priority.