Workers entitled to ask for pay rise says keir starmer th

This article was originally published in October of 2015.

Credit where credit is due. The Tories are an election winning machine. They have reduced their former coalition partners, the Lib Dems to a parliamentary rump, and they have reduced UKIP to the margins, and they have reduced Labour to infighting and potential civil war.

But that is as far as I am willing to lavish praise on the Tories. The Tories won the election on false premises. They did not win the election because of their magnificently successful governance of the country. They won the election because they hoodwinked people into thinking several perceived wisdoms that were total nonsense.

Tory Party 2015

Millions of voters think that the Tories are better at managing the economy than Labour, and that Labour recklessly “spent all of the money “. Millions of people think that the deficit and debt have spiralled out of control because of excessive welfare and public sector costs. Millions of people think that the country has turned a corner and that the economy is back on track. Millions of people think that immigration is a threat. Millions of people think that the Tories can be trusted with our national security.

Here are 8 inconvenient truths about Tory Britain today:

1. Labour managed the economy better than the Tories.

Labour’s handling of the economy between 1997-2010 was largely prudent and successful. They even managed to run at a surplus for several years. Under the Brown administration, the deficit and debt spiked upwards due to the colossal £1.2trillion bail out of the banks.

2. The Tories are mishandling the economy.

Since 2010, the national debt has almost doubled to £1.5 trillion. The Tories don’t even have the excuse of being forced to bail out the banks – which Labour did in 2008/2009.

3. The Tories are destroying the finances of the NHS.

Since the Tories came into power in 2010, the NHS has gone from a healthy annual surplus to a deficit. This can be attributed largely because of the false economy reforms within the 2011 Health Care Act which has created huge financial resources being spent on agency staff, NHS staff redundancy pay outs and prohibitive private sector fees for services such as catering, pharmaceuticals, and equipment.

4. The real economy isn’t booming. It is flatlining.

This chart produced by EU/Eurostat’s brutally highlights the haves and have nots society in Britain today. Inner London (propped up by the slush funds washing around The City of London) is the most prosperous area in Northern Europe while within the wider reaches of our country, Britain now has the 8 poorest regions in Northern Europe.

5. Corbyn-led Labour doesn’t present a “threat” to our national security. The Tories present a threat to our national security.

The Tories continue to intervene in the Middle East by dropping bombs on innocent civilians in Libya and Syria while stoking up even more hated in a crisis ridden war zone. £100bn Trident renewal is a key defence priority for the Tories. A price tag that could pay for every single nurse in the country receiving a 10% pay rise.

Meanwhile despite this quasi ego-fuelled imperialistic policy in defence and foreign affairs, we have a government pimping itself out as an arms dealer. Britain’s arms trade is £multi-million industry producing and depositing weapons in some of the most dangerous areas in the world and into the hands of some of the most despicable regimes in the world.

6. Immigration has benefited Britain.

Most immigrants come to Britain for the right reasons – to escape tyranny, oppression and with the noble ambition of bettering themselves through aspiration and employment.

7. The banks caused the financial mess and caused the spike in the national debt, not over inflated public services.

Did public sector workers cause a financial crash, receive a £1.2 billion bailout, receive billions in bonuses and evade their tax payments?

No. I don’t remember that either.

8. Austerity is a con.

The austerity con: the Tory idea that we cut our public services in order to pay back a never-ending debt to bankers who we’ve already had to bail out anyway.

Total bank bailout = £1.2 trillion.