Tory Government Cuts the Working Class's Supplies; The Increasing Class Divide in Modern Britian
By Manha
'We have to prove we're worth an extra £20-a-week to people who say they can't survive on £150,000 a year'.
The working class are often overlooked by the government as they fail to recognise the struggles, we face daily due to their judgment being clouded by the privilege most government officials holding the top roles grew up with. From studying for their A levels at elite private sixth forms like the Eton College and graduating from the University of Oxford as a rich, white male, it is fair to say that politicians such as Boris Johnson do not know what it feels like to be a working-class. Why didn't Rishi Sunak mention the impacts of the cut on the poor? It is obvious that the Conservative Party are not the ones being hit by the changes in the Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.
'I will not have enough money to buy food or heat my home, I don't know how I will eat. I am afforded no dignity. I am thrown on the scrap heap' wrote Joan, a woman in her sixties about the effects of the cut to Universal Credit. Another woman, who escaped domestic violence with her young daughter, said 'losing £20-a-week will send us spiralling down. I don't know how the conservatives can do this to people.'
'It is the single biggest overnight social security cut in the history of the welfare state, hitting more than 6 million families, including and around 10,000 households in Coventry South.' This is what Zahra Sultana, a Labour MP, stated in the House of Commons. This change is estimated to force 700,000 more people into poverty, 300,000 of them being children. More than half a million will be pushed into extreme poverty. These effects will only increase the difference in the living standards of those of the upper-middle class and the poor, state school children will receive fewer opportunities than private school children. Isn't it ironic that this decision which is a prime example of class warfare in Modern Britian was led by an old Etonian, a Chancellor who is the richest member of the house and a Cabinet that is two-thirds privately educated, and funded by the elite?
The universal credit is a source of income for adults who are on a low income or out of work. This was a hope during the pandemic for many who were made redundant by their employers and had to support families.
The universal credit was introduced so that those receiving benefits could start paid work or increase the hours that they worked for as their income is increased. In March 2020, the government introduced an uplift to the universal credit and working tax credits worth £20 a week. The universal credit cut means that there will be no longer be an uplift.
Football player Marcus Rashford, whose campaign during the earlier stages of the coronavirus pandemic led the government to spend £170m to help feed children from disadvantaged households over school holidays, called for the government to abandon plans to cut the uplift. This was following Keir Starmer's statement that the reduction came 'at the worst possible time because prices are going up'. So, this raises the question, why did the government ignore these concerns and continue the cut to the universal credit?
Government officials claim that the removal of the uplift was inevitable as it was only temporary, like other measures taken to help the public during the pandemic. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Therese Coffey, also said that the cut will encourage ''getting people in work and getting people into jobs, and that is what we are doing". However, many organisations and individuals, like myself, are not satisfied with their reasoning and believe that the uplift should be kept, to support the ones in need.
Therefore, as proposed by MP Zahra Sultan, the Conservative politicians should vote against this cut and at the very least, extend the uplift to all legacy benefits, so that the disadvantaged can get through this pandemic with slightly more ease.