THE food bank charity, the Trussell Trust says it has handed out 913,000 food parcels in the last year, up from 347,000 the year before.
The Trust says a third were given to repeat visitors but there was a ‘shocking’ 51% rise in clients to established food banks.
83% of food banks reported that benefits sanctions – when payments are temporarily stopped – had resulted in more people being referred for emergency food, while more than 30% of visits were put down to a delay in welfare payments, with 20% saying that the cause was their low income.
‘In the last year, we’ve seen things get worse, rather than better, for many people on low incomes,’ said Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust.
This is the real world that we all live in. Liza Cucco the manager of the Hackney Food Bank said it all when she declared: ‘We’re often surprised by the length of sanctions people get. If someone is late for an appointment, I’m not sure it’s reasonable to block their payments for four to six weeks,’ she told the BBC.
In line with the Tory outlook, the unemployed are being punished for being unemployed.
From the real world we now turn to the imaginary world created by the Tory media.
Weekly wages, including bonuses, rose by 1.7% in the year to February, up from 1.4% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In fact millions of workers have not had a wage rise for years. In the NHS over half of the workforce is not even going to get 1%, a figure that is well below the official rate of inflation. Yesterday there was jubilation in the bourgeois media as the CPI Consumer Prices Index was adjusted downwards from 1.7% to 1.6%.
In fact, this is not a real measurement of the rising cost of living since it concentrates and counts in a large number of items that workers will never buy, and underestimates the basic items that workers buy every day to feed and clothe their families, and the percentage that this is of their earnings.
The imaginary increase in weekly wages and bonuses is then compared to the imaginary cut in the inflation rate, from 1.7% to 1.6%. The 0.1% difference is being hailed as the ‘new beginning’. It is declared, not even tongue in cheek, that wages are now rising faster than prices!
Even the alternative inflation rate, the RPI rate, which includes some housing costs is at 2.5% for the month, but this is ignored in the interests of the Tory Party. The boast is now that ‘The squeeze on workers’ living standards which has persisted more or less continuously since 2008 is technically over.’
However the fact is that real wages have declined 10% over that period. Even using these figures however, when bonus payments are excluded, wages ‘rose’ by 1.4%, still below the rate of inflation.
Likewise the registered unemployment rate fell to 6.9% from 7.1%. It is worth noting that of the 239,000 increase in those in work over the quarter, 146,000 was self-employment.
Commenting on the official employment and pay figures, Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘The rise in employment is being fuelled by a massive increase in self employment which, for many, will mean insecurity and low pay, and also masks the huge number of people forced to do unpaid work on government schemes.’
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: ‘With the retail price index (RPI) at 2.5 per cent and wage growth at 1.4 per cent, excluding bonuses, the squeeze continues leaving ordinary people bewildered at the self-congratulatory tone of the government that has presided over the growing shame of food bank Britain.’
The situation of the working class and the middle class is worsening while the Tories snigger with their fake propaganda.
The TUC must take action to defend the working class and the middle class. They must answer the ridiculous propaganda that things are getting better, by making them far worse for the bosses, the bankers and the Tories. The way to do this is to call a general strike to bring down the government and bring in a workers government and socialism!
