Don’t just fight the bedroom tax, scrap it entirely!

It’s easy to say what you’re against. We do it all the time but it’s harder to say what you’re for. In terms of the bedroom tax many are against it in principle yet can we trust them? The labour party campaign against this tax yet Ed Miliband can’t decide if he supports it or is against it. To me we can never trust the labour party under any circumstances history tells us this. Labour were in words against the poll tax yet labour councils were some of the most vicious in implementing the tax. It is the same today labour councils will implement the so called bedroom tax and cry crocodile tears after. But things do not have to be this way. Politicians keep inviting us to feel sorry for them as they have to make tough choices - choices of whose jobs, whose terms and conditions, whose services to cut. That's not a tough choice as far as we're concerned. If you represent working class people you don't make cuts. People who do face real tough choices are those who live in the 660,000 households affected by the bedroom tax. They face choices like: "Do I try to pay my increased housing costs or put food on the table? Will I face the threat of eviction for being behind in my rent or will my family go hungry?" A large portion of the victims of the bedroom tax are disabled; 63% of affected households have one or more disabled person. Stephen Palmer of Merthyr is being charged bedroom tax but his 'spare' bedroom isn't empty - it is filled to the brim with his essential kidney dialysis equipment! The bedroom tax is supposed to be about maximising the use of existing social housing, by 'encouraging' people to downsize. If you are poor, receive housing benefit and in social housing, you now have no right to be secure in a home filled with family memories and part of a community, surrounded by friends and neighbours. If the size of your household changes through kids growing up, hospitalisation or even bereavement, you are expected to move or pay a huge penalty. Even if you don't mind moving, in many parts of the country finding smaller accommodation is impossible. According to Welsh local authorities, there are just 400 single-bedroom properties in social housing in the whole of Wales and four (out of 22) council areas have no single-bedroom homes available. And there's no help with the substantial costs of moving anyway. A month into the bedroom tax, thousands of people are finding they can't pay. It is perhaps the single most blatant attack on the poorest in our communities. It has to be fought along with the whole raft of Con-Dem cuts. To charge tenants who are already on low incomes for having a room where people they are close to can stay is just about the meanest trick of a government which has a world-class reputation for mean tricks. The government says: 'take a lodger'- but why should people share their homes with someone they hardly know, when they want to share their homes with those they are close to? The government says: 'get a few extra hours work'. What planet are they on? Don't they realise that everyone is having their hours cut! The government says: 'move to a smaller property or a cheaper area'. Where are all these one-bedroom properties? They don't exist. And why uproot yourself to a new area, away from schools, contacts, and support networks? The bedroom tax is an outrage, and that's why people are getting angry. Half the people signing petitions against the tax aren't even hit by it, but they know people who are affected - family, friends, and neighbours - and they think it stinks. Protests are taking off - not just demonstrations but targeted protests at Labour councils who, for all their 'campaigning' against the tax, will implement it to the hilt, and against housing associations who are busy taking on more 'enforcement officers' to 'deal with' the tenants who fall behind on rent. That's why we need to build street networks and 'telephone trees' to quickly respond to threats by bailiffs. No evictions of tenants who fall into rent arrears as a result of austerity cuts. Organise local campaigns to oppose the tax and defend our homes, and link them to existing anti-cuts groups Stand candidates against councillors who try to evict us. Build a new mass workers' party that draws together workers, young people and activists from workplaces and anti-cuts campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the pro-cuts parties Cap rents and build homes. Invest in a major programme of council house building and refurbishment to provide affordable homes for all and decent jobs End low pay! If workers are paid a genuinely living wage they would not need to claim housing benefit Fight all the cuts. Trade unions must build for a 24-hour general strike as the next major step in the campaign against austerity For a socialist alternative to cuts and capitalism with a democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people - not the 1%.

Welfare bill spells difficulty for many

This is a piece i have submitted to go in our paper the socialist this coming week. It may not appear as this may be jigged around here and there to fit in the paper but i thought i'd post my original version here for all to read if they wished.


So as the Welfare bill makes its course through the houses of
parliament going backwards and forwards between the commons and the
lord's disabled people such as me reflect on what will make our lives
harder than they already are.

For me the proposed changes are yet to be spelled out to me but I
understand the DLA is likely to be replaced with Pip which will surely
cost more in the long run to introduce and make the transition across.
I was granted DLA indefinably after I was told I may not see ever
again following the traumatic loss of my sight in 2004. From what I
understand PIP will be harder to claim and more and more strict tests
will have to be performed before you are granted help and support.

No doubt such profiteers such as ATOS will be there carrying out the
tests on disabled people with tough rigorous tests to carry out to
prove if you are fit for work or not.

With DLA this was not means tested so you could still claim it while
working which has been a great help to me as I only work part time and
receive working tax credits as a top up due to such poor level of
wages.

I know many cases of people who have already been through tough
screening and have lost out with attempts to get benefits to help them
live independently. Missing out and still not being able to find work
is extremely tough. I was unemployed a few years back after leaving
blind college in Here ford the RNCB which again receives local
authority funding for students to go there to study and receive
support in a residential environment.

I fear for others and myself who will have to face tough questions in
the coming months and years in terms of what we can and cannot afford.

Disabled activists may have been heartened by the role the house of
lords has played so far but we would air on the side of caution and
say the lords only oppose part of the welfare bill. As socialists we
would oppose the whole bill as it is a vicious attack on ordinary
working class disabled people.

With all 3 main capitalist parties Tories, lib dems and labour all
agreeing with the principle of the bill it is time disabled people
along with others in society say enough is enough and put our efforts
in to fighting for a new workers party fighting for the interests of
all not just the 1%.

The silent problem of homelessness

Mainstream media often overlooks the fact taht homelessness is on the sharp rise in Britain today and with housing benifit set to be slashed back in 2013 there is no doubt in my mind there will be more people living on the streets in the years to come. With Labour and tories backing laws to criminalise squatting making it illegal to squat and limit peoples choices where they can go to kip at night is a grave concern of mine. The media who are petti bourgeois in the main live a very comfortable lifestyel and report on homelessness only around christmas time to ramp up sympathy for the poor but if they really cared that'd look to really do something about it. But they do not.
lessness is the most extreme form of housing need. But it isn’t just about people sleeping on the streets. There are many more people in England who do not have a home despite not actually sleeping rough. Some have to put up with living in temporary accommodation where they have an uncertain future. Unable to afford alternative options, others have to endure overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Having a home is about more than just having a roof over your head.


Homelessness is not just a housing problem. Not having a decent home adversely affects all areas of your life - from your health, to your achievement at school if you are a child, and your ability to get work if you are an adult. Conversely, if you are struggling with your health or your employment, this may in turn affect your housing needs and the security of your home.

People end up homeless for a wide variety of reasons:

When relationships break down, often one person is forced to move out without anywhere to go.
Private tenancies frequently last only for six months or a year, and when they come to an end people may face homelessness due to a lack of other affordable options.
When faced with an abusive home life, many children decide to run away.
After a reduction in or loss of income due to health reasons or unemployment, or a sharp rise in interest rates, a person may find themselves unable to keep up mortgage repayments. Some people on low incomes who rely on housing benefit to pay their rent can face eviction because of errors and delays in the benefit being paid.

lessness is still viewed by many as the result of personal failings. But homelessness is caused by a complex interplay between a person's personal circumstances, and adverse 'structural' factors, outside that person's direct control. These problems can build up over years leading to the final crisis when a person may become homeless.

Home
Total numbers of homeless people in England are very difficult to calculate because of the transient nature of the homeless population and because the various forms of homelessness are counted in different, but sometimes overlapping ways. However, there are various figures available. Some statistics are snapshot figures that count numbers of people at a particular moment in time. Others are ‘flow’ figures which count people becoming homeless over a period of time.

People sleeping rough are often difficult to count for a number of reasons, for example because people bed down at different times, move about, are hidden away in derelict buildings or travel on night buses. The numbers of people who sleep on friends’ floors, and stay in squats and other insecure accommodation are often not known.

In summary, the main sources of published statistics on homelessness are:

•Street counts of people sleeping rough
•Data from local authorities on the number of people who apply to them as homeless
•Local authority data on cases of prevention of homelessness
•Statistics from homelessness services about the numbers of clients they serve.

which can often be misleading or inaccurate too. This is a growing issue and a problem for many and as the size of the global economic crisis looks set to deepen in the next few years people will be forced into increasing difficult decisions about their lives and thier lifestyles. I myself am lucky enough to have never experienced being homeless and dont pretend to know how it is like but i still think that the issue shouldnt be ushered under the carpet just as some of are lucky enough to not be homeless . It is not a prospect many wish for and some may be reluctant to be helped off the streets this can be a challenge but support must be there if they want it at all times. The other big problem is a lack of affordable housing in this country which i have addressed on this blog before which does play a big part in more and more people being forced on to the streets.

The growing polarisation in Britain today

We are currently seeing a growing polarisation of opinion, wealth, opportunity and pay i'm afraid to say. It really does feel like we are being taken back in time to a earlier time in history.

I was borin in the late 80's did not experience Thatcher and her horrors but am quickly becoming acustom in what it must have been like today in 2011. As we see our living standards stagnate or fall in many cases there is a growing feeling that the poor aare getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. This is being helped through by yet another tory government headed by a cabinet of millionaires .


The government's measures amount to the biggest single attack on the living standards of the British working class for 80 years.

The Independent, basing itself upon the figures of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, claims they are the deepest cuts since the 1970s.

But this is not true. In 1976, to receive an IMF loan of £2.3 billion, the then Labour government cut £2.5 billion from public expenditure, equivalent to no more than £20 billion today.

Osborne wants to impose an £81 billion slash and burn programme over four years. Indicating his determination to push through his brutal measures Osborne has let it be known that there is no 'plan B' to fall back on if his proposals are not accepted.

This is bravado on his and the government's part. But the British ruling class has a tried and tested policy of bending with the wind. Whenever they have confronted a determined mass movement which is prepared to go to the end of the struggle against them they have often retreated.

Sometimes, they throw overboard the 'general' whose plans have been thwarted. This was the fate of Margaret Thatcher in the mighty poll-tax battle which she lost and as a result was subsequently ejected from office.

Such an outcome in this battle is not to be excluded. This is a government of liars, who have no mandate - the Liberal Democrats are doing exactly the opposite of what they promised before the general election - and deserves to be driven from office.

But on the other hand this is only possible on the basis of determined policies matched by bold leadership.

We cannot rely on a labour party traditionally known as defenders of the poor. New labour have transformed themselves into apologists of the city and big business
We cannot rely on Labour to oppose the cuts and austerity to the poor and workers.
Moreover, Alistair Darling, previously New Labour's chancellor, has admitted that the cuts that would have been inflicted if New Labour had been re-elected would have been more severe than Margaret Thatcher's when she was in power.

From the outset, this government has pursued a policy of 'shock and awe'. There are many who naively believe that these are always 'somebody else's cuts', in a situation like this.


A recent survey of top 100 FTSE chief executives has shown that in the last year these bosses have received, on average, 50% pay rises. Top company boss Martin Sorrell had the brass neck to complain that his £1 million basic salary was "very low"!

This at a time when many workers have had to endure pay freezes especially in the public sector. In some cases, such as Southampton City and Hampshire county council, workers face pay cuts. Most of these workers are already some of the lowest paid. In the private sector as well, those who have received any pay rises have seen them more than wiped out by price inflation.

It's a disgrace that the parasites at the top can award themselves such huge rises while at the same time calling for further cuts in public spending, leading to more job losses and attacks on workers' terms and conditions.

The fat cats have tried to defend themselves by claiming that their salaries and bonuses are set by independent pay review boards. But the bosses sit on each others' review boards where they recommend huge pay increases for each other!

They have even claimed that their massive pay rises are down to 'performance', yet the system they head is in crisis. If their pay is linked to performance they should be paying us for the mess they've created!

Cameron and Clegg have expressed 'concern' over pay inequalities but working class people won't be fooled by this. The Con-Dems are determined to make the poorest people in society pay for the bankers' greed and the failures of capitalism.

The growing polarisation in society really is starting to grow now. With peoples opinions eitehr falling in the have's or have nots. There is a growing feeling that we are not all in this together as the tories would have us believe . The poor will not take this laying down and will fight back.
I was listening to a programme on BBC 5 live last night and a debate in a church in Birmingham with Edwina Currie claiming taht she doesnt beleive we have real povety in Britain today she thinks its all down to peoples choices and lazy attitudes to not work. Well if there were the jobs there in the first place Edwina maybe we could all find jobs. But jobs that pay a decent living wage should be our aim not just jobs for jobs sake.

As winter approach's many face tough decisions on fuel bills

As we approach winter with the dark nights drawing in and the first frosts of the autumn arriving. People right across the country will be pressured more than ever to try and find ways of reducing their energy bills and to heat and keep their homes going.

Winter time can be particularly challenging for the elderly and the poor and this year as we face another hard winter of austerity and cut backs. The energy companies have felt the need to squeeze even more out of us and decided a few months back to put up their charges by eye watering figures.

Gas bills will rise by an average of 18% and electricity bills by an average of 16%.

The change will affect nine million households with the average dual fuel customer paying an extra £190 a year.

British Gas customers will have seen their bills shoot up by £258 or 25% within a year”
End Quote
Uswitch
In May, the company said its customers were not paying enough to reflect the increased cost of gas on the wholesale markets, and that this would depress its profits for the first half of the year.

But this argument was rejected by Mike O'Connor, the chief executive of Consumer Focus.

"Wholesale costs have gone up but they are still around a third lower than their 2008 peak," he said.

"Yet in this time British Gas' prices alone have risen by around 44% on gas and 21% on electricity and suppliers have made healthy profits."

Last year, British Gas' residential business made £740m.

Spending squeeze

In June, Scottish Power became the first of the big-six energy suppliers to announce another set of price increases.

It said it would raise the cost of gas by 19% and the cost of electricity by 10% at the start of August.

Energy price rises
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar... ...Aug
*G= Gas E=Electricity

Scottish Power
G: 2% E: 8.9%
G: 19% E: 10%

Scottish & Southern
G: 9.4%

British Gas
G&E: 7%
G: 18% E: 16%

Npower
G&E: 5.1%

E.On
G: 3% E: 9%

EDF
G: 6.5% E: 7.5%

The latest increase in energy bills, which is likely to be followed by other big energy suppliers, comes after a round of increases last winter which saw British Gas put its charges up by 7% in December.

"Average household bill for a dual fuel British Gas customer will now go up from £1,096 to £1,288," said the price comparison service Uswitch.

"In total, British Gas customers will have seen their bills shoot up by £258 or 25% within a year, taking them from £1,030 a year to £1,288," Uswitch added.

Richard Lloyd, of the consumers' association Which?, said the energy firm's announcement was an unwelcome


He can say that again, it is very much unwelcome for many working class families across the land who are finding making ends meet a increasing struggle as this economic crisis of capitalism deepens. I am sure we will see many trying to go without heating this winter with the rise in costs trying to save money wherever they can to get by. After this con-dem government cut teh winter fuel allowance for elderly people i am fearful of this winter where if it reach's really cold temperatures over a consistent period we may risk loosing some of our elderly friends and family if we are not careful. Elderly people who by definition do noth ave bags of money would have been relying on teh winter fuel allowance to get them through the winter. Now it is gone i fer for many who are on the cusp of povety and those in what they call "fuel povety" those who cannot afford to have energy in their homes for long if at all.

This is something we must bear in mind over the winter and lend solidarity to the elderly and the poor if they are in need not to abandon them but offer them shelter in the warmth and not let them suffer. If the government of millionaires dont care the organised working class has got to. The trade unions and labour movement must step in to offer support and help wherever we can. We are all facing hard times but lets not let this actually claim lives we must fight for us all and this winter will be no different.

It is ok for the likes of Ed Miliband to announce to his middle class friends in the labour party that he'll take on the vested interests of the big energy companies its good he recognises thre is a issue here that huge profits are made and te service is poor and unfair to those at the bottom. But what Mr Miliband should be saying he'll do is nationalise all of the utilities and energy companies and bring them under democratic workers control. To be run for peoples need and boy we need energy today and not for the need to make a profit. Need first everytime for me and that way we will have a better all round social society .

Are we really all in this together ?

As George Osbournes now famous line we are all in this together gets heard almost on a daily basis now in my tweets on twitter and various social media outlets i just think we should not let the public at large forget that this is a complete lie.

We are not all in this together at all. The poor are disproportionatly paying more for the bankers mistakes and the huge debt we have run up. It is not fair to say we are all in this together when a certain section of society is clearly being forced not becuase they want to to pay for this mess. After it was our money that was used to bail these retchid banks out in the first place we continue to hear of the poor being asked to take pay cuts, redundancies, VAT hikes, benifits being taken away and merged.
I just still think that line will be one of the lines in history that will show the tories up to have been out of touch during a time of hardship throughout the western world.
If we area ll in this together why are the bankers and the rich not paying more tax's to help the less well off avoid the brunt of these cuts. So for example if big business's like Vodafone who still owe our country 6 billin pounds of tax would just be foreced to pay up the 6 billion taken out of the welfare state earlier this year would never have had to happen.

But are we all in this mess together ? no we dam well are not. Untill this class war is ended and the attack on the less well off is heard to the mainstream media and everyone gets to hear of the real ideaological reasons behind these cuts the arguement about cuts will not ahve been won. We must fight and campaign to keep the welfare state one of the greatest things about this country in its present state.

If the NHS is taken on to privatise it or cut it back majorly then the student protests seen over the last few weeks in london will be sure to be repeated.

I fear we are in for a rough couple of years now under this tory lead coalition so lets buckle up and be ready to fightback when they say cutback.