Convenient Myths

This Tory government has embarked upon an unprecedented dismantling of our public services, all on the back of a number of convenient myths used as justification for their ideological whims.

We're all in this together; perhaps the most pernicious of the myths peddled by the govt and right wing media. In fact this government has presided over one of the most economically polarising parliaments in history. Wages in the bottom deciles have flat lined while those of the top earners in society have reaped the rewards of a growing economy. The royal mail sell off put billions of pounds into the hands of banks and bankers, Michael Gove's toxic education reforms have allowed billions to be siphoned out of our school system, NHS privatisation has seen contracts awarded left and right to companies with links to Westminster; we now live in a society where the top 10% of UK earners have salaries totalling more than the bottom 40%.

Bankrupt Britain. This is a myth perpetuated by David Cameron, George Osborne, the press and many right wing supporters, bloggers and thinkers. In fact this statement couldn't be further from the truth; although in a terrible state (exacerbated by 4 years of austerity) we didn't even come close to bankruptcy and the economy has grown consistently since 2013; this money has gone into the pockets of the richest, most affluent members of our society as well the big corporations which have so much influence in Westminster (Oil, Coal & Gas Subsidies). At the same time the idea that we have a bankrupt economy has been used as a stick to repeatedly hammer wages, social security & public services.

There's no money to spend on the public sector and so cuts are inevitable. This, again, is pure fallacy; the UK is the 6th largest economy in the world; the idea that there is no money available for public services is a convenient myth which the Tories have used to decimate public services as part of their ideological drive. To put their approach to the economy into perspective the subsidies to multinational Oil & Gas corporations could have paid for the 5,890 nurses, 5,000 firefighters & 15,000 police staff which have been cut since Cameron and the Government came into power.

We paid multinational companies with public money to help them extract our national resources which they then sold on the open market to make billions in profit.

Immigrants are over running our services and coming from the EU to milk our welfare system. The government has slashed at almost every public service while simultaneously trotting out the idea that said services are being over run as a result of increased demand due to immigration; this is a myth. The Governments own figures show that while 2.2 million EU nationals have settled in the UK 2 million Brits have settled abroad. Immigrants are also 45% less likely to claim benefit than UK natives and estimated to contribute billions more in tax revenue than they receive in state welfare.

It's vitally important to view the immigration agenda for what it truly is: a crude strategy orchestrated to deflect blame, anger and political debate away from the true source of social issues. The true source of these issues is, of course, failing government policy.

There is a theme running through every one of these points, the fact is that this is a government which has the interests of the minority at it's heart. As far as they are concerned things are going swimmingly and the more than can get away with, the more damage they can do to public institutions, the more wealth they can transfer from public ownership into private hands; the better . In almost every walk of public life, every section of the economy, everything they have touched over the course of this parliament we have seen a movement of wealth, income and opportunity away from the public at large, away from the public sector and into the hands of corporate interests and wealthy elites.

This cannot be allowed to continue come May. Much of the damage all ready done may be irreversible, another 4 years would be catastrophic.