The Austerity Illusion

 

There are now just hours to go until the public will be taking to the polling stations and casting their votes for the general election. Tensions are running high and I swear to God if I hear Theresa May come out with a pathetic sound bite one more time I’m going to lose my shit and run through a field of wheat with a covfefe on my head.

The reason that these sound bites are so frustrating is because they hold about as much irony as when she said that the UK hasn’t done enough to tackle terrorism, when that has literally been her job for seven years.

Coalition of Chaos

We have heard countless times, members of the conservative party referring to a Coalition of Chaos, supposedly headed up by Jeremy Corbyn. How unthinkable – parties with opposing views joining together to run the country as an unelected Government! The fact is that we have already seen a coalition of chaos. 2010 brought us the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition, providing with us with David Cameron, our very own unelected Prime minister (they seem to have a habit of doing this). During their five years in power, the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition embarked crippling austerity, causing the start of unimaginable chaos to our public services. The parties introduced the following austerity measures;

The bedroom tax; aimed at low income/unemployed families - according to the TUC, this affected a total of 31% of all working age families in the social rented sector. They also slashed Legal Aid, the top rate of tax was cut from 50p to 45p, we saw Sure Start centres from across the country being shut down (612 in just four years) [site 4children], the Sure Start Maternity grant was also abolished - costing low income mothers £500 and hitting the poorest the hardest, education maintenance allowance for 16-18 year olds was snatched from the hands of the poorest students attending further education, the armed forces were cut - creating a loss of thousands of soldiers, as well as the RAF losing hundreds of helicopters and planes, Child Trust Funds were totally abolished, we have also seen huge numbers of changes to benefits. Child benefit was frozen for a total of three years, inciting a cumulative loss of £1,000 to families with two children, families receiving working tax credits saw a rise in the number of hours they had to work from 16 to 24…the list goes on, including cuts to GP surgeries, Remploy, Youth Centres, local council funding, local parks, police, buses, education, income support, youth employment and support allowance, prisons, public sector pay, mental health.

Basically the coalition government slashed everything they could get their paws on, if I were to list it all in detail it would take up the full blog post, however you can find all the information here.

Strong Economy

Two years on, now with a Conservative government in power and we are still seeing violent austerity across the country. We are being told that we must live within our means and that these measures will create a ‘strong economy’ (you know, that thing they have been promising us for seven years but we are yet to see).

Wrong.

The conservative government displays public spending in the same way as managing a household income. When you are tight on money you make savings through cutting out luxuries; you stop shopping at Sainsbury’s and go to somewhere like Aldi, you decide not to take that holiday that you’ve been planning, you cancel your gym membership – because who are you kidding? You never go anyway.

Cutting back on luxuries works well as a way to survive when you are low on money. The fact is that this logic is not transferrable to government spending and austerity is not about cutting down on luxuries – it is about cutting vital public services that help the majority of people living in this country to thrive.

By cutting funding to education, the poorest children are unable to gain the knowledge and skills that they so desperately need for the future. By cutting spending on mental health services we see individual’s health deteriorate, often resulting in a loss of employment, then housing and sometimes a loss of their own lives. By cutting benefits we see more people pushed into poverty and therefore further from the jobs market, more reliant on our underfunded NHS, more reliant on our underfunded social care services and more reliant on underfunded local authorities.

Do you see a pattern here yet? Circa 100,000 children fell into relative poverty in 2015-16, showing a year on year increase of one percentage point. Not only that but people with disabilities have had to withstand the worst of our government cuts, many of whom have literally had their human rights violated as a result of austerity. Between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017, The Trussell Trust’s Foodbank Network provided 1,182,954 three day emergency food supplies to people who literally could not afford to eat. Of this number, 436,938 went to children.

The Tories boast that they have created record numbers of jobs, yet fail to mention the record rise of in work poverty under their leadership; the Nuffield Foundation found that the risk of poverty for adults living in working households rose by more than a quarter (26.5%), from 12.4% to 15.7%, during the ten year period 2004/5 to 2014/15.

The fact is that there is nothing strong about one of the richest countries in the world having literally hundreds of thousands of citizens who can’t afford to feed themselves.

Magic Money Tree, Magic Money Tree, Magic Money Tree

On the BBC Election Debate, the night that our Prime Minister Theresa May went missing, we heard Amber Rudd squealing about Labours ‘magic money tree’. Throughout the campaign we have seen this phrase banded about – probably a tactic used to avoid the fact that the Labour manifesto is fully costed and has the backing of 120 economists from across the globe, while the only figures that appear to be in the Conservative manifesto (in the words of John MacDonnell) are the page numbers.

“There is no magic money tree!” we hear them scream, “We can’t just find this money from nowhere! We have to build a strong economy to afford such luxuries as money that allows people with disabilities to live independently and…you know…eat.”

Funny that, because it seems that there is quite a large sum of money floating around.

In March, the conservatives managed to implement their inheritance tax cut, meaning that couples who pass on homes worth up to £750,000 pay no inheritance duty. Not only this, but by 2020 even homes up to £1million will be exempt from the tax. According to figures from the House of Commons library, this measure will cost the taxpayers £1billion over the next three years, while only benefitting 26,000 of the country’s richest households – and I can guarantee those are not the ‘just about managing’ that Theresa May loves to speak about.

We have also seen a huge tax cut for high earners by pushing up the threshold for paying the 40p rate of income tax, we have seen a reduction in corporation tax and cuts to capital gains. They implemented the new ‘lifetime ISA’ which means that wealthy parents are now able to open tax free savings accounts for their children, deposit up to £4,000 a year and gain £1,000 of tax payer money as a bonus. On top of this they have allowed people with spare rooms, houses or flats to get a tax break on the first £1,000 a year they make renting them out online, not only benefitting people with extra properties but encouraging them to let them out on a short term basis rather than long term.

The fact is that austerity does not work. The method has been widely discredited by economists. Back in 2012, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, said that although his organisation never bought into the notion that austerity would actually boost economic growth, the IMF now believes that it massively understated the damage that spending cuts inflict on a weak economy.

But why would our Conservative government continue down the path of austerity if it is doing nothing but pushing thousands of people into poverty and taking away any hopes for decent employment? It’s not like they are too stupid to realise what is happening. They aren’t doing it just because they hate poor people, people with disabilities, mental health needs, single mothers and everyone else who is losing out. Nor is this an accident. This is a very well planned out dismantling of our welfare state and it is happening because it widens the gap between the rich and the poor, it strips the pockets of the most vulnerable and in return, lines the pockets of the most wealthy.

I was going to go into a more detailed answer to this question but I think from today’s events and the headlines printed across our right wing mainstream media, it is very clear. The priority of the Conservative party is to enhance the interests of the ruling classes. The majority of our main stream media which happens to be owned by billionaires will continue to push austerian messages to keep this government in power, meaning that they can keep getting those juicy tax breaks.

Austerity is not just about cutting spending, it is also very much about privatisation of publically owned services. Conservative values mean that they are ideologically opposed to having a public sector. By privatising and selling off our public services, capitalism prospers, shifting the priorities of these services from serving the public to generating profits. Cue: zero hours contracts, low pay and restricted worker’s rights.

Is it any surprise that in 2015, the Conservatives signed their biggest private deal on our NHS - £780million to be exact – to private firms, half of which have ties to the party.

For the Many

Whatever the result tomorrow, we can take a glimmer of hope from this election. Not only has Theresa May’s car-crash of a campaign been highly entertaining to follow; starting by basing all promotional materials around May herself, rather than the Conservatives as a whole, presenting herself as a ‘strong and stable’ leader, followed by her refusing TV debates, avoiding the general public at all costs and basically imploding during questions given by TV audiences.

The real hope that we can take from this campaign is the excessive support that Jeremy Corbyn has harnessed from previously disillusioned voters. People from all walks of life coming out and backing him. The most vulnerable in society finally finding a voice in politics. The anti-austerity message that has finally been brought to the table.

Even if we lose tomorrow, this campaign has touched so many people and it won’t be forgotten by them. They will continue to vote and they will continue to hold our government to account. During Corbyn’s time as leader he has forced the Conservatives to make huge U-turns on policies that would have had a detrimental effect to the poorest in our country, with the backing of new voters, he or whoever takes his place, can and must continue to do this.

Social mobility on this level has never been easy and if Corbyn were to win it would be the most monumental change in political history dating back to the war. We must take his campaign as a victory and we must make a promise to ourselves and each other that we will continue to fight, for the many, not the few.

 

Mental Health - We Need More Than Just a Conversation

As we come to the end of this year's Mental Health Awareness Week, we have yet again seen mental illness brought to the forefront of our media platforms. This time, the lead up was more prominent than ever with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry launching their campaign, ‘Heads Together’. The campaign highlights personal stories of central figures in popular culture. Prince Harry himself spoke about his experiences of psychological distress after his mother’s passing. We also saw stories shared by the likes of Lady Gaga, Professor Green and Ruby Wax – who all spoke about their own journeys with mental illness in order to 'start the conversation'.

There is no getting away from the fact that as a result of the Royals giving this traditionally taboo subject a platform, awareness has been brought to some of the struggles that come with living with mental illness. But is sharing stories from arguably some of the most privileged members of society really enough?

It is all well and good to hear Harry talk about his struggle to ask for support and you could argue that at least it highlights the fact that no one is immune to this situation, therefore encouraging sufferers to seek support when they need it. But what comes after the decision to find help? This part of the journey to mental wellbeing seems to have been pushed to one side throughout the campaign.

The sad reality is that these stories are not representative of the majority of people struggling with mental illness in our country. When Harry finally spoke up and asked for help, he wasn’t put onto a waiting list that could take months like anyone using our NHS services. He also didn’t have the added stress of the prospect of losing his job or his home if he decided to disclose his illness to an employer. The problem with this sort of campaigning is that it puts the emphasis on the individual to change their own life, situation or journey themselves. The narrative is that if you disclose your illness, then the help is readily available and it’s down to you to harness that support and use it to your advantage.

Not once has the campaign spoken about cuts to benefits that so many people in this situation bear the brunt of. It also doesn’t speak about waiting lists or even the length of time it might take to book an appointment with a GP in the first place. Nor does it mention the many ‘high-risk’ people with mental health needs who have been held in police cells because of cuts made by the Conservative government, causing a decrease in the number of hospital beds available.

There has been no exploration of the causes of deterioration to so many people’s health. There has been no mention of the ‘fit to work’ assessments carried out by the DWP that have led to hundreds of suicides. It doesn’t mention the housing crisis that our country is facing and the pressures this inflicts on thousands of people. It certainly doesn’t mention the growing number of people under the current government using food banks - indicating malnourishment in hundreds of thousands of adults and children which often has a knock on effect to their mental wellbeing.

We are living in a society where those affected by mental illness, who find themselves relying on support from the state, are perceived scroungers that don’t help themselves. This, coupled with the traditional British perception of ‘stiff upper lip’ and ‘there are plenty more people who have it worse so just get on with it’, causes significant damage to the most vulnerable in society. The sharing of personal stories and the idea that we all have the tools to help ourselves, just as much as the Royal family might, only perpetuates these issues. Personal stories from a handful of privileged people can only act as a plaster to cover the root cause of this growing epidemic. Fair enough, you might find yourself in Professor Green’s situation who struggled with mental illness before his rise to fame – but how many of us are suddenly going to break through as music artists and make our millions?

To reiterate, there is no getting away from the fact that by using their platform to speak about such a significant issue, the Royals are doing something fantastic. But there is also so much more work to be done. Lady Gaga talking about having to get up on stage each night while battling with depression – no discredit to her situation and her struggles – is not going to benefit an unemployed individual with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

So what can we do to make a difference? Speaking up about mental illness is a positive start, but we also have to recognise the real issues that people are facing in these situations. We have to stand up to our government when they are closing hospitals and cutting funding to services that support people who find themselves at the bottom of the pile. We have to hold our government to account and we have now been presented with the ideal opportunity to do so. The general election gives us the chance to drive out the Conservatives and put our country in the hands of a government that will invest in these vital services that we so desperately need.

Theresa May has made mental health a key focus of her election campaign by promising to scrap the 1983 Mental Health Act. The party has pledged to spend 1bn more on mental health which will go towards funding 10,000 extra staff. This all sounds good in principle but aside from that fact that there has been no indication of where this money is coming from, there has been no acknowledgement of the desperate need for more hospital beds.

The phrase actions speak louder than words comes to mind. The Conservatives have not only failed to invest in mental health services throughout their time in government, they have also consistently cut vital services that are there to support people struggling with mental illness. Between 2010 and 2015 the Conservative/Lib Dem government slashed the equivalent of £598m from mental health budgets each year.

May’s voting record also shows her personal feelings towards some of the root causes of the mental illness epidemic in this country – she voted for the bedroom tax, voted against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability
and she consistently voted to reduce welfare.

The party’s reputation as the government of U-turns also shows that a Tory promise is an empty promise.

It seems more likely that the Conservatives will be going down the route of privatisation when it comes to our health services. During their time in power we have seen steady signs of this with NHS budget going to firms such as Virgin Care, Care UK and Bupa. Department of Health (DH) figures have shown that the amount of funding that went to ‘independent sector providers’ between 2015 – 2016 rose to £8.7bn. We are now at a time where nearly 10% of NHS funding goes to private companies.

To make matters worse, the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) has given new criteria that directly discriminates against claimants with mental health needs. Claimants who have limited mobility due to mental health conditions are now being told that they are not entitled to the mobility component of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) – even if the effects of their illness equal that of someone with a physical impairment.

Although Labour is yet to release their official 2017 manifesto, a leaked document has revealed that they plan to invest £6billion-a-year into the NHS, raised from new taxes on the nation’s highest earners. This is good news for people struggling with mental health needs as it will allow millions to be taken off waiting lists and receive the treatment they so desperately need. The document also stated that NHS privatisation will be “reversed” and the NHS and Social Care Act 2012 repealed.

It is a sad state of affairs when our Royal Family is doing more than our own government to support some of the most vulnerable in society. But starting the conversation is only that – the start of gruelling mission to fix the tremendous damage caused by our current government. We can share our personal struggles as much as we want but in the end we must come together and take action to stop such situations from happening in the first place.

If you really want to make an impact on mental health in this country then vote Labour on June 8.