TORY Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his Budget speech yesterday in the middle of a massive strike action across the country of up to a million workers.
250,000 members of the teaching union NEU began two days of strikes in the fight for the union’s demand for a ‘fully funded above inflation pay rise’.
Teachers were joined by 133,000 civil servants, members of the PCS union, as their strike action has been escalated by 33,000 additional civil servants voting recently to join with the 100,000 who walked out on February 1.
75,000 junior doctors in the BMA have been on a three-day strike action this week, in their fight for a pay increase that compensates them for the massive real terms pay cut of 26% they have endured under Tory austerity cuts.
20,000 London Underground workers, members of the RMT and Aslef unions, are out on strike, with Transport for London warning Tube passengers there will be ‘little or no service.’
Meanwhile, the TUC has remained totally silent while Chancellor Hunt announced the ‘biggest change to our welfare system in a decade’, with reforms aimed at ‘supporting more disabled people into work’.
Hunt told the House of Commons: ‘The number of disabled people in work has risen by two million since 2013. But even after that we could fill half the vacancies in the economy with people who say they would like to work despite being inactive due to sickness or disability.
‘With Zoom, Teams and new working models that make it easier to work from home, this is more possible than ever before.’
His plans will ‘abolish the Work Capability Assessment in Great Britain and separate benefit entitlement from an individual’s ability to work. As a result, disabled benefit claimants will always be able to seek work without fear of losing financial support.’
Hunt also confirmed he would launch ‘Great British Nuclear’ to bring down costs and support the Ukraine.
He added: ‘Today, following representations from our persuasive Defence Secretary, I confirm that we will add a total of £11bn to our defence budget over the next five years and it will be nearly 2.25% of GDP by 2025.’
‘The Chancellor also announced: ‘The number of disabled people in work has risen by two million since 2013. But even after that we could fill half the vacancies in the economy with people who say they would like to work despite being inactive due to sickness or disability.’
Meanwhile inside the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt outlined his policy of forcing older workers off of universal credit to take jobs to take British capitalism out of its crisis.
Hunt spelt out that there were 1 million vacancies and 7 millions people of working age who don’t work. He pledged to remove the barriers that stop people working, one of them was universal credit payments!
He intends to target the over 50s with ‘Skills Boot Camps.’
He also confirmed nuclear power would be classed as ‘environmentally sustainable’ to drive investment in the energy sector, and said he would launch ‘Great British Nuclear’ to bring down costs.
The Chancellor announced the ‘biggest change to our welfare system in a decade’, with reforms aimed at supporting more disabled people into work.
Commenting on the budget, Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham said: ‘Today the Chancellor had a chance to save the National Health Service – starting by paying NHS workers their dues.
‘Instead, he made the wrong choices and delivered a historic betrayal where there wasn’t a penny for the NHS pay in the budget. So while Jeremy Hunt rearranges the deck chairs for corporate Britain, workers in the real economy face a crisis.
‘This Budget does next to nothing to address the historic cost of living crisis hitting workers throughout our broken economy. Since 2010, real wages have fallen by 15% and that’s going to get worse.’
This week Unite’s new research revealed Britain’s corporate profiteering crisis. Sharon Graham said: ‘Since the pandemic the top FTSE companies’ profit margins have soared by 89%.
‘What’s the government’s response? Delivering a ‘sleight of hand’ Budget. Today the Chancellor claimed that this was a budget for growth to benefit Britain.
‘In real terms, it’s tax cuts for the rich and powerful and little reward for workers.
‘This economic system is not only broken, it’s rigged and once again workers are paying the price.’
Hunt has made it clear that he intends to make war on the poor, the workers and the elderly. The time has come for union leaders like Graham to insist that the TUC calls a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in socialism!
