A Pat on the Back

For me Nick Clegg patting George Osborne, on the back in congratulation, is the defining image of last week’s Coalition spending review announcement. To think thousands of people in Cornwall voted Lib Dem in the false belief they would defend the livelihoods of ordinary people, or at the very least keep the Tories out. A brief spat last week between Labour and the Tories regarding whether the announced 19% cuts were less or more than if Labour had been in power provided diversion from the horrors in the announcement. However none of the hot air will make a blind bit of difference to ordinary Cornish people who will suffer as a result of the supposedly ‘fair’ (to use that well worn ‘Coalition’ phrase) cuts in benefits and services. Lest we forget the 50% cut in the social housing budget, the 2000 jobs to go at Cornwall Council, or the thousands of disabled people in care homes who will now go out even less due to the government’s cut of their entitlement to mobility allowance. About as ‘fair’ as Wayne Rooney’s new pay deal at Man Utd I think.

During the election, when I stood for the Green Party, the other candidates as usual promised so much should they get elected. Better public transport, more social housing, improved services etc. etc. The Greens were the only honest party when we clearly said yes we would do this too, but sorry folks this will need to be paid for by a more progressive tax system. Those who are more wealthy paying more in order to create and nurture a civilised, more equal society. A society where there are decent public services, and ordinary Cornish people can afford a decent house in the community they were born and brought up in. Despite the Lib Dems and the Tories at the time bickering with each other; they are now patting each other on the back. As for Labour, it was them, who from 1997, got in bed with the City, and nurtured a deregulated financial system which resulted in the terrible crash that caused the financial problems we now have. No wonder there is so little trust in politicians and people believe politicians ‘are all the same’. Look at the evidence.

The Coalition may blame the few cases of benefit excess highlighted by their friends at the Telegraph and Mail to justify its cuts, but the Cameron-Clegg pact continues to see it less of a priority to combat tax evasion and avoidance. Why hurt your friends?

Yes, the deficit needs eradication. However while City bankers are again enjoying big bonuses, and will be relatively untouched by the government’s spending review, it should not be the poor who should be paying for problems caused by the City’s greed and excess. Should I have sat next to Mr Osborne last Wednesday the last thing I would have wished to offer him was a pat on the back.