Hi ,
The crisis we're in has been obvious for a long time. I'm sure you've felt it or seen the evidence of it in our streets and communities, our changing weather patterns, or the rise of the far right.
A lot of supporters tell us they've seen this their entire lives, and so many of you have worked incredibly hard to change our society for the better – and it's striking how what we've all been working for hasn't much changed. We still need to rebalance society so that power, wealth, and income are shared more equally. That means taxing the rich, nationalising utilities, a restructured economy that works for people and planet, guaranteeing people a decent standard of life, building homes and public spaces, fairer electoral systems and ending corporate capture of politics.
As we come to the spending review (due on 11 June) and later a budget, the need for these things isn't just clear; there's increasingly no realistic alternative to them. Government cuts to winter fuel and crucial disability support have proved wildly unpopular, with up to 150 MPs considering rebellion as charities warn of the damage cuts will do. Plans for more spending cuts in this review have run into Ministers correctly warning that it's simply not possible to cut any more. Incredibly, even the International Monetary Fund, which has overseen enormous austerity programmes around the world, has intervened to suggest the UK should change fiscal rules instead of cutting spending.
Here's another example: Labour in opposition and government has put a lot of time into defending the two-child benefit cap – but we have a child poverty crisis and there's no way out of it without scrapping the cap. Now, finally, policy-makers are beginning to understand what we've known for a long time and are considering removing the cap, which would lift nearly 500,000 children out of poverty. Accepting this reality of child poverty could change hundreds of thousands of lives.
Last week, we published our research into the changing nature of billionaire wealth and the Sunday Times Rich List. Over the weekend, the Guardian used it as the basis for an editorial warning that greed and inequality is unravelling society, calling instead for taxes on wealth. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown followed shortly after, calling for banking or gambling levies. MPs are increasingly telling the government that revenue can be raised from the richest instead of the rest of us.
The reality of inequality is sinking in. Will our government face the reality on the need to nationalise failed private water companies, tax the rich and powerful, face the climate crisis, or fundamentally change the UK's unequal structures? It may be slow going, but there isn't another option. |
