30.11.1995

Attacks on workers pay for budget bribe

TUC general secretary John Monks was mute on the continued attacks that lay behind the feeble budget tax bribe. No wonder Clarke thinks he can get away with it

IT IS as good as official. There will be no general election until 1997. Although Kenneth Clarke’s 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax was the first since 1988, all the bourgeois pundits are agreed that it is nowhere near enough to put the Tories back on course.

Its former middle class supporters will see it as a sop that does nothing to bring back the ‘feel good’ factor, while the onslaught on the working class continues. Even this limited bribe has to be paid for, and the government is doing this by slashing £3.2 billion off its spending, and borrowing more. The extra borrowing alone will mean that it will have to pay an extra £2.1 billion a year in interest to the bankers by 1997.

To counter the bribery allegations, Clarke proudly announced ‘extra spending’ on schools and hospitals. Even that is a fraud.

He is simply allocating councils a bigger slice of present government funding towards schools, not providing any extra cash. So oversized classes, understaffing and rundown buildings will continue - along with further cuts.

The extra £1 billion for hospitals is to be eaten up by the increased price of supplies and increased salaries. Does that mean pay increases for hard-pressed nurses and ancillary workers? Not a chance. Their pay will be held down, while a whole new tier of managers are hired to make the new market-style NHS more ‘efficient’ - and to continue running it down.

While businesses and the rich will gain from tax changes - including the tax-free inheritance hike from £154,000 to £200,000 - the vicious attacks on workers continue.

Cuts will be made in lone parent benefit, while housing benefit paid to young people under 25 is to be restricted. Clarke thinks they should live in accommodation more suited to their standing - shop doorways, for example. On Tuesday night 80 people from the Welfare State Network occupied a Commons committee room in protest, before agreeing to leave after pleas from Labour MP Alan Simpson.

The overall cuts, such as in council housing subsidies, education, youth ‘training’ and all capital projects, will mean an extra 300,000 workers thrown out of work, according to Chris Tinder of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. Even this figure is based on the government’s continued public sector pay freeze.

These attacks have been greeted by the predictable shouts of disapproval from Labour and the Liberals - both keen to show how they would have done a better job of balancing the capitalist books.

But what does John Monks, the TUC general secretary, think of chancellor Clarke’s budget? “He has done nothing for industry,” this staunch working class fighter declared.