Green groups create mock cemetery to highlight thousands of cold-related deaths

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/green-groups-create-mock-cemetery-highlight-thousands-cold-related-deaths

Gravestones in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, during a Greenpeace demonstration, March 13, 2024

FUEL poverty campaigners created a mock cemetery outside Parliament today to mark the deaths of tens of thousands of people who have died from cold-related illnesses since the government cut grants to help insulate homes.

Hundreds of headstones, made with insulation panels used to help people keep their homes warm, were erected in a royal park by Greenpeace and the Fuel Poverty Action campaign.

Greenpeace said that 70,000 people — on average 58 a day — have died from cold-related illnesses since the government slashed subsidies for loft and wall insulation in 2013.

Greenpeace UK fuel poverty campaigner Paul Morozzo said: “Thousands of people are literally freezing to death in their own homes during winter.

“And not only have successive governments failed to prevent this needless and shocking loss of life but they have fuelled this silent public health crisis by slashing insulation funding and failing to deliver a proper scheme to upgrade our cold, damp, draughty homes.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/green-groups-create-mock-cemetery-highlight-thousands-cold-related-deaths

Continue ReadingGreen groups create mock cemetery to highlight thousands of cold-related deaths

Keir Starmer will continue austerity. That means keeping vulnerable people in ‘brutalising poverty’

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https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/keir-starmer-austerity-u-turn-labour-poverty-suffering/

Keir Starmer sucking up to the rich and powerful at World Economic Forum, Davos.
Keir Starmer sucking up to the rich and powerful at World Economic Forum, Davos.

Beyond each Labour U-turn is a well of suffering and poverty that has no justifiable reason to exist, says trade union case worker Kasmira Kincaid

Our politicians invariably speak of “fiscal responsibility”; of “balancing the budget” and “living within our means”. The Keir Starmer of today – as opposed to the Keir Starmer who was elected to lead the Labour Party in 2020 – is no different. But these words just serve to obscure the obscenity of what is actually being said: that we can’t afford to feed the poor, to house the homeless, and to allow people to live in dignity and comfort.

But the thing is we can. We know we can. We know it when we see government funds used to drop bombs on foreign countries. We know it when we see sweeping tax cuts to the wealthy, and tax evaders let off the hook. And we know it when we walk past empty tower blocks, full of investment properties, while homeless people die on the streets.

It’s a supreme form of gaslighting to suggest otherwise, asking us to deny the evidence of our senses and experiences. Making sure everyone gets what they need is a logistical challenge, for sure. But there is enough to make sure everyone gets what they need.

As a new Labour government comes to feel inevitable, many of us are taking stock of what such a government would mean. Over the last four years, Keir Starmer has U-turned on practically every anti-austerity policy in his 2020 leadership bid: from abolishing universal credit and what he once called “the Tories’ cruel sanctions regime”; to scrapping work capability assessments and the two-child limit on benefits; to re-nationalising key public services.

Today I live a life where few of these policies would directly affect me. Yet I haven’t forgotten what it felt like to be in the firing line for government decisions. The material conditions of people’s lives should be the beginning and end of politics. As we voice our opposition to continued austerity we’d do well to remember that. To remember that beyond each of these U-turns is a well of human suffering that has no justifiable reason to exist.

Kasmira Kincaid is a trade union case worker and former benefits claimant.

https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/keir-starmer-austerity-u-turn-labour-poverty-suffering/

Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Continue ReadingKeir Starmer will continue austerity. That means keeping vulnerable people in ‘brutalising poverty’

“Austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity” – Jeremy Corbyn on #Budget24

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https://labouroutlook.org/2024/03/06/austerity-is-a-political-choice-not-an-economic-necessity-jeremy-corbyn-exclusive-on-budget24/

Image of Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party

“Today’s budget exposes a government that is blind to the scale of the crises we face. While private companies are taking home more profit than ever before, more than 4 million children live in poverty.”

Jeremy Corbyn MP

“Austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity” – Jeremy Corbyn exclusive on #Budget24

Jeremy Corbyn MP writes for Labour Outlook on #Budget24.

This is what we said back in 2015, five years into a devastating programme of cuts and privatisation. We knew that austerity would decimate our public services, plunge millions into poverty and send our country into economic decline. It was true then – and it is true now.

Today’s budget exposes a government that is blind to the scale of the crises we face. While private companies are taking home more profit than ever before, more than 4 million children live in poverty. A quarter of a million people are homeless, while millions more languish on social housing waiting lists. Our NHS is on its knees after decades of austerity and privatisation.

Perhaps most alarmingly, we are sleepwalking toward a climate emergency. Make no mistake, the climate crisis is here, and we are running out of time to avoid total catastrophe. People in the Global South are already suffering the worst consequences – more and more people in this country will experience the devastating effects of air pollution, heatwaves and flooding.

The Tories’ economic experiment has failed – and they should not get off lightly. Parroting the language of austerity is a grave mistake, and represents a missed opportunity to bring about the transformative change this country needs. When there are more billionaires in this country than ever before, the idea that we cannot afford to build a fairer and greener society is absurd. We have the means to end poverty, pay our workers properly and save the planet. We just need the political will.

Millions of us still believe in a real alternative.

One that funds a fully-public NHS; austerity and privatisation are the causes of – not the solutions to – the healthcare crisis.

One that introduced rent controls and builds social housing; we will never tackle the housing emergency until we treat housing as a human right, and embark upon a huge council house-building programme.

One that invests in a Green New Deal to transform the economy and create thousands of green, unionised jobs.

One that scraps the 2-child benefits cap; this cruel and callous policy is a moral disgrace, and we could pay for the abolition of this policy seventeen times over with a 1-2% wealth tax on people with assets over £10 million.

One that brings energy, water, rail and mail into public ownership; privatisation has been a total disaster, and it’s time we stood up to the companies holding our country to ransom.

Our economy is not just broken. It is rigged in the interests of the few – and unless we fundamentally rewrite the rules of our economy, nothing will change. There’s nothing fiscally responsible about plunging millions of people into poverty or destroying our natural world. Why can’t we have the courage to campaign for a more joyful, equal and sustainable future?

As the MP for Islington North, I will continue to campaign alongside my community for a redistribution of wealth and power. For an economy that puts human need before corporate greed. For a society that cares for each other and cares for all.


https://labouroutlook.org/2024/03/06/austerity-is-a-political-choice-not-an-economic-necessity-jeremy-corbyn-exclusive-on-budget24/

Continue Reading“Austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity” – Jeremy Corbyn on #Budget24

Fuel poverty protestors gather in Manchester to shine light on thousands of lives cut short this winter due to uninhabitable homes

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/fuel-poverty-protestors-gather-in-manchester-to-shine-light-on-thousands-of-lives-cut-short-this-winter-due-to-uninhabitable-homes/

“The next government’s energy policy should aim at ending fuel poverty, not managing it, and the money to do it is right there in energy company profits.”

In Manchester, there was an angry response to what the End Fuel Poverty Coalition described as a ‘another feeble budget.’

“The Chancellor failed to close the 91 percent loophole in windfall taxes, and failed to invest in the green jobs that would deliver cheaper home-grown energy for us all, and healthier homes,” said a spokesperson for the Coalition.   

Stu Bretherton, Energy For All Campaign Coordinator at Fuel Poverty Action said he hopes Wednesday’s Statement will be the last Budget of a government that has “driven mass poverty, broken public services, illness and death.”

But Bretherton warned that none of the parties are “offering the bold changes that we desperately need so today we’re seeing trade unions, pensioners, climate activists and health workers Unite for Energy For All.”

“The next government’s energy policy should aim at ending fuel poverty, not managing it, and the money to do it is right there in energy company profits,” he said.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/fuel-poverty-protestors-gather-in-manchester-to-shine-light-on-thousands-of-lives-cut-short-this-winter-due-to-uninhabitable-homes/

Continue ReadingFuel poverty protestors gather in Manchester to shine light on thousands of lives cut short this winter due to uninhabitable homes

Morning Star: We need an emergency Budget – but there’s no relief in sight

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Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box before delivering his Budget in the Houses of Parliament, March 6, 2024

BRITAIN needed an emergency Budget today, one that addressed the profound crises facing local authorities, healthcare, education, you name it.

It got nothing of the sort. A scattering of headline investments like the “NHS productivity plan,” focused on IT systems and ignoring the staff shortages that have led to waiting lists seven million long.

A 2p cut to National Insurance that benefits higher earners more and, by reducing the tax take, tightens the funding squeeze on essential services. Bigger cuts to capital gains tax, incentivising the property speculation that has helped drive the housing crisis.

It was a complacent Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt spending longer trying to explain away Britain’s “technical” recession as some kind of economic success (the same Chancellor said last year he was “comfortable” with Bank of England policy causing a recession to reduce wages) than he did outlining new measures that might make a difference.

Britain has “turned the corner” on inflation, he claims, though prices rising more slowly doesn’t mean prices falling and millions of us know what we pay for food, energy and a roof over our heads has soared in recent years.

There is plenty of money. Last month Britain’s Big Four banks announced their highest annual profits ever.

We see record-breaking profits in the energy cartels, big agribusiness, soaring profit margins in the FTSE 350 table of big companies. These aren’t “difficult economic circumstances.” It is class war.

And if Labour won’t strike a blow for workers in that war, unions will need to find another way to change our country’s direction.

Continue ReadingMorning Star: We need an emergency Budget – but there’s no relief in sight

Hunt gambles on tax as services crumble

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hunt-gambles-tax-services-crumble

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box before delivering his Budget in the Houses of Parliament, March 6, 2024.

PUBLIC services are at still greater risk as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt gambled the Tories’ election hopes on a last-ditch tax-cutting Budget.

Mr Hunt announced a 2 per cent cut in National Insurance in a bid to put more money in workers’ pockets before Britain goes to the polls later this year.

But the price will be a major squeeze in public spending in the next parliament, with many department budgets likely to fall in real terms.

The Chancellor also abolished the non-dom tax rule which lets the wealthiest avoid paying taxes on overseas earnings, a key Labour pledge, and brought more families within the scope of child benefit payments.

The Budget therefore leaves Labour more politically denuded than ever — it will either have to find other ways to raise the money it had planned for public services from scrapping the non-dom loophole, or more likely drop residual spending commitments altogether.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that Labour supported the National Insurance cut too, leaving the parties exchanging rhetorical sound and fury on economic policy but with no significant differences.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hunt-gambles-tax-services-crumble

Continue ReadingHunt gambles on tax as services crumble

‘Pre-election gimmicks’: How trade unions reacted to the Budget

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/pre-election-gimmicks-how-trade-unions-reacted-to-the-budget/

From missed opportunities to ‘Tory hot air’, trade unions weigh in on the Spring Budget announcements

Responding to Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget statement today, union leaders have shared their thoughts on what it will mean for workers across the UK, with warnings of deepening crises in their respective industries. 

The Chancellor was condemned for failing to announce proper investment in public services, with trade union leaders accusing him of using “deeply cynical” pre-election “gimmicks”.

Union leaders had already warned the Chancellor of the need to provide extra cash for public services, as Jeremy Hunt has been blasted for falling well short of delivering for working people. 

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/pre-election-gimmicks-how-trade-unions-reacted-to-the-budget/

Continue Reading‘Pre-election gimmicks’: How trade unions reacted to the Budget

5 key takeaways from Jeremy Hunt’s budget

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/5-key-takeaways-from-jeremy-hunts-budget/

A budget totally out of step with what people want and need.

Today [yesterday] saw Chancellor Jeremy Hunt deliver his much-awaited Spring Budget. The stakes couldn’t be higher, with the economy in recession, millions struggling to make ends meet and a forthcoming general election.

In what is likely to be the last budget, and possibly the final fiscal event before the general election later this year, Hunt sought to present a rosy picture of the economy, one which is totally divorced from reality.

A budget totally out of step with what people want and need, opinion polls have repeatedly shown that the British public prefer investment in public services rather than tax cuts. There was no bold and radical plan to get the UK economy out of economic stagnation, to tackle poor productivity or to improve public services.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/5-key-takeaways-from-jeremy-hunts-budget/

Continue Reading5 key takeaways from Jeremy Hunt’s budget

Greens say that people can see through pre-election Budget tax bribes

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

“People can see through these pre-election tax bribes that will have to be paid for by cuts to our NHS and other vital public services,” says Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer. 

Denyer said: 

“People are crying out for investment in social care, in our NHS and in dentistry. We needed a ‘care full’ Budget but have ended up with a careless, reckless Budget. 

“Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is attempting to bribe the electorate through tax cuts, which can only mean more pain for public services that are already on their knees.   

“People won’t be richer, healthier or happier because of this Budget. People know a con when they see one.  

“The Fairness Foundation found only 16 per cent of the British public and 17 per cent of Conservative voters would support tax cuts if it meant public service cuts.

“Councils are going bust up and down the country, NHS waits are getting longer, dentists can’t be found, while anyone travelling by train or bus, or visiting our town centres feels the lack of investment all around them. 

“These headline tax cuts will do nothing to reverse the decade-long, real-terms wage freeze most workers have faced under successive Conservative governments. 

“The Resolution Foundation says those earning up to £19k pa will be losers because of freezing of tax thresholds, while pensioners and those on benefits gain nothing at all.

“There is wealth in the UK, but it is distributed unfairly. Our economy is failing because our wealth, rather than circulating and benefiting everybody, is held in the stagnant assets of the super-rich.  

“So, we needed a Budget that released the money available from a wealth tax to invest in the green jobs of the future, to cut NHS queues and restore nature and the places we live and work. 

“We needed a Budget that introduced a Wealth Tax, and reformed Capital Gains Tax and National Insurance to raise over £50bn per year.

“That would have provided the vital public investment our country is crying out for. 

“Now we have Labour huffing and puffing but offering no real alternative to being locked into a Conservative-forged cuts straitjacket. 

“Thankfully, a General Election is coming where people can vote Green for the real change that will lead to a fairer, healthier and more caring country.” 

Continue ReadingGreens say that people can see through pre-election Budget tax bribes

Damning report warns UK on course for second ‘lost decade’ ahead of Budget

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/damning-report-warns-uk-on-course-for-second-lost-decade-ahead-of-budget/

Tories devastating record set to continue unless Budget delivers ‘desperately needed measures’ to recover living standards

In a bleak assessment of the Tories track record, the 2020s are on course to be the ‘second lost decade’ in living standards, a leading charity has warned the Chancellor ahead of his Spring Budget announcement. 

Leading anti-poverty charity, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published the damning report on Monday, warning that, without political intervention, this Wednesday’s budget risks condemning Britain to another decade of declining living standards. 

Based on current government spending plans, working families could be £1,900 a year worse off by 2029 than in 2021. While essentials are predicted to remain less affordable relative to post tax earnings until 2029.

The cutting analysis of the UK’s economic trajectory is a warning to Jeremy Hunt that if he fails to deliver immediate measures to support living standards in the coming budget, then this will be the result. 

Decisive intervention from policy makers is what the charity has urged, as it warned that many families will be poorer by the end of the 2020s than at the start. While the Chancellor must prioritise providing long-term economic security for households requiring “the right political will” to turn the situation around. 

Currently, post-tax earnings are £2,400 a year lower for the average working family than they were in 2021, while essential goods and services for the average family are £270 a year more expensive than at the beginning of 2021, the JRF research found.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/damning-report-warns-uk-on-course-for-second-lost-decade-ahead-of-budget/

Continue ReadingDamning report warns UK on course for second ‘lost decade’ ahead of Budget