27.11.1997

Entirely consistent

Despite last week’s backbench ‘revolt’ against the government’s proposed cuts in benefit to single parent families, it is clear that New Labour plans to press ahead with this latest attack on poor workers.

At present lone parents receive a higher rate of child benefit than married couples and, under the cover of ‘equality of treatment’, social security secretary Harriet Harman is planning to reduce them to a common level for new lone parent claimants. New claimants would therefore receive on average £6 a week less than current single parents, although in some cases the difference could amount to £10.50.

The cuts, originally budgeted in former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke’s spending projections, are likely to form part of a package of proposals in the government’s ‘welfare to work’ legislation. This £200 million scheme will ‘encourage’ single parents to volunteer for ‘assessment’ and employment advice and is widely seen as paving the way for compulsory measures.

Tory social security spokesperson Iain Duncan Smith has said that the plan will not work, precisely because it lacks compulsion. He pointed out that unemployed under-25s are already obliged to join a ‘training’ scheme and added:

“The logic that unless time limits are imposed claimants would be less likely to actively seek work has been adopted by the Labour government, but only in part. The lone parents taking part in the programme are under no such obligation, irrespective of the age of their children.”

The assault on working class living standards is likely to be extended to Britain’s 6.5 million disabled people, according to reports of cabinet discussions. Cuts in disability living allowance, claimed by 1.8 million people, are being contemplated, and other options being considered are the introduction of further means-testing, taxing disability benefits and even putting a US-style total limit on claims. These proposals are intended to “encourage disabled people to get jobs” (The Daily Telegraph November 22).

Anne Pridmore of the British Council of Disabled People charity said:

“We are very, very concerned. Disabled people are one of the poorest sections of the community. We are seeking assurances and proper consultation and will fight this tooth and nail.”

Such talk was, needless to say, contemptuously dismissed by bourgeois commentators. Referring to the lone parent proposals, The Independent commented: “It is precisely in distancing Labour from interest groups (such as the poverty lobby) that its political future lies. This cut is a weighty and necessary symbol of that” (editorial, November 25). Big business, which continues to press for reduced taxation and state spending, is of course not included in the “interest groups” category.

Charities and liberal poverty campaigners are totally unable to resist, let alone “fight tooth and nail”. Only the working class is capable of providing effective opposition. Unfortunately it has been partially disarmed and handicapped by the advice given to it by so-called revolutionary groups last May.

However, the same groups who cried ‘vote Labour’ then will no doubt cry ‘betrayal’ now, despite the fact that Blair made his proposals crystal clear during the election campaign. As a spokesperson in the prime minister’s office pointed out, when asked to comment on the lone parent cuts: “The policy was agreed before the election and it is government policy.”

Alistair Darling, chief secretary to the treasury, said that proposals for disabled benefits would be “entirely consistent with the government’s manifesto pledges”.

Alan Fox