THE UK capitalist economy is staggering along the bottom with a three month ‘growth’ to show, from January to March, of 0.2 per cent.
The last quarter of 2009 saw a GDP growth of 0.4 per cent – revised up from an initial estimate of 0.1 per cent. This slight growth is now falling back. All the British Chambers of Commerce had to say yesterday was that the new figures underlined the challenges still facing the economy, stating ‘It is important for policy-makers to focus on ensuring that the recovery continues and a double-dip recession is avoided.’
The non-growth figure came after record unemployment figures were published earlier in the week, showing 43,000 more unemployed, pushing the total up to 2.5 million.
This huge growth in the numbers of unproductive workers, came along with a leap in the inflation rate.
The RPI rate which includes mortgage interest rates is now at 4.4 per cent, the CPI rate is at 3.4 per cent and the RPIX index (which excludes mortgage interest payments) is at 4.8 per cent. The government’s inflation target is 2 per cent!
These bombshells were followed up with the notification that the 2009-2010 budget deficit had reached £163bn, 11.6 per cent of GDP, with an £890bn total for the national debt at 62 per cent of GDP. The government is now on course to register a national debt of over £1 trillion in 2010-2011!
Meanwhile, the general election is just two weeks away and the Labour Party is becoming more and more desperate for votes. This is why a significant part of Gordon Brown’s contribution to the second three-leader debate saw him playing the racist card.
He stressed that having millions of white eastern Europeans coming to the UK was OK, while every one of the alleged many thousands of illegal immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere would be hunted down and returned back to where they came from by a small army of immigrant hunters.
This approach was allied to his pledge that the door is now securely locked against non-EU immigrants, unless they satisfied a points system focussing on their skills. However being skilled did not ensure entry. These skills had to be badly needed in the UK, and not available locally. Skilled immigrants must speak English, and be law-abiding.
These ‘worthy entrants’ would all have ID cards and be under the observation of the state. No such racist stipulations are being made on the EU nationals who are coming to Britain. This approach is racist and will no doubt win Labour a few votes.
On one of the other main requirements of UK imperialism Brown was desperately keen to be seen to be 100 per cent Tory. He insisted that no matter how many hospitals and schools are closed, no matter how many public sector workers have their wages cut, or their pensions slashed, or are sacked, the £130bn Trident nuclear bomb programme is guaranteed. It is sacrosanct, and is one of the few parts of the UK budget that will be cut only over Brown’s dead body.
Such a Labour Party, with such a leadership not only will not defend the interests of the working class, it will do everything that is necessary to save bankrupt capitalism at the expense of the working class, to the point of forming a national government with the Tories and Liberals.
This is why the WRP is standing seven candidates in this general election.
We call to keep the Tories out. However we also call for the building of the revolutionary leadership in the working class that will lead the working class to fight the savage cuts that are coming from whatever government that takes over after the general election.
This leadership must organise a general strike to bring the government down and mobilise the working class for a socialist revolution to expropriate the bosses and the bankers to bring in a socialist planned economy.
This is the only way forward for the working class. We are standing in this election to mobilise the workers and the youth for the major task that is ahead through the building up of the WRP. This task is the organisation of the British socialist revolution!