Inequality has increased massively in this country in recent times, and should whoever forms the next government continues on the harsh route of austerity it will push our country’s social development back to the levels of inequality last experienced in the 1930s. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Oxfam and many other social research groups more than 1 in 5 households are in poverty, affecting more than 1 in 5 children. Age UK say that over 1.6 million Pensioners in poverty, that’s more than 1 in 7, with over 900,000 in severe poverty. Rates of poverty amongst disabled people are twice that of the non-disabled population, with coalition policies forcing more and more off disability benefits under the guise of austerity budget requirements. The Trussel Trust’s food banks increased from 56 in 2009 to 445 this year feeding a total 1.1 million people, whilst the richest 1,000 families in the country saw their wealth more than double from £258bn to £547bn during the same period – an amount larger than that held by the poorest 40% of Britain’s households.
It’s clear that austerity has achieve little other than to begin stripping the country of its welfare system, dismantling the NHS, impoverishing local government, shrinking the public services and it has created a housing crisis that will take at least a generation to repair. Inequality has now started to affect that part of British society most slow to rise up in protest – the middle classes. Many people who would ordinarily not be very interested in politics or not too negatively affected by government policies are finding themselves directly affected by the housing crisis and, realising there is a problem, they look around and see just how damaged the country is. As a result they are beginning to question the sensibility of government austerity policies that leave the poor and vulnerable hungry, cold and homeless. Some do, as we have seen, doggedly believe in Conservative government, some turn to the right and blame ‘those foreigners’ and pledge their allegiance to UKIP, but more and more are looking to the centre left and left-of-centre parties to take action. Unsurprisingly Liberal Democrat support is ebbing away.
The problem with such financial and social inequality is that it creates division and unrest. The country has made huge advances in social equality – who’d have thought that a British government would admit institutional racism was something that existed and needed to be dealt with, or that same-sex marriage would be legislated for? Yet we haven’t gone far enough – women are still fighting social, workplace and economic prejudice, racism is still a problem and, as we have seen, homophobia still exists and there are increases in attacks on disabled people and people ‘suspected’ of being benefit claimants. Hate crime is on the rise across the board, and it is only likely to increase as austerity sets people against each other as they seek others to blame and any difference becomes the excuse.
The left need to stop infighting and work together – an agreement or a coalition between the left is the only way of changing the route Britain is on. It’s too important not to set aside niggling differences, we need a united group of politicians ready to check their egos, work together and repair the social fabric of this country. It won’t be easy, we may need to protest and make demands of the government to ensure that they move us back to a fair and just social economy.
Philip Green, Blogging & Writing. 