By Lennon Airey (Politics Correspondent)
Edited by Mark Etkind (Politics Editor)
The working class plays a vital role in the foundations of our society. The public sector and civil service play vital roles in the day-to-day maintenance of our country, acting as the needle that sews the fabric together. Arguably, nothing would be possible without it: the cleaners, council workers, trades professions, transport workers and other public sector workers make up the DNA of our nation. Whilst those at the top of politics make the most important decisions, many of these policies could never make a difference without the working class, but we have a problem. Wage freezes, public sector cuts due to austerity, trade union unrest, and increasingly right-wing governments have presented huge challenges to the working class. But it is becoming increasingly difficult for the working class to continue to support institutions that are beginning to turn their backs on them.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss famously co-wrote ‘Britannia Unchained’, alongside former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, former Home Secretary Priti Patel, and Chris Skidmore MP. Regarding British workers, as many now know, the book quotes, “Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world”. This is especially relevant when referring to Liz Truss, who during the 2022 Tory Hustings was quoted saying that British workers need to ‘graft more’. This is obviously open to interpretation but gives insight into on the thoughts of these prominent Conservative Tory MPs towards ordinary, working-class Britons. . Public sector pay freezes stand as one of the best examples of Conservative governmental negligence towards the working class. Using education as another example, The Independent suggests that teachers are now 25% more likely to leave the profession after a year than they were in 2011 when Labour left office, and 17% more likely to leave after three. Conservative Governments are not only neglecting the teachers, but also the children that are being educated. According to a study conducted by The Independent, there are currently over 1,000 teacher posts currently unfilled in the UK. Whose side is the government on when it freezes teachers’ pay which drives many out of the profession? Clearly, they are on neither the side of the teachers and educational professions nor the side of the children. The UK currently has a failed education system which at its best is overworked and a detriment to the education of our children. At its worst, it is a failed education system which will have a ripple effect, rocketing millions of children into apathy and disregard for their education. Clearly children and those who work in the education system are victims of a failed system, which is deteriorating rapidly under successive Conservative Governments.
To build on the above, statistics released by the End Child Poverty Coalition show 3.6 million children were living in poverty in 2020/21 or about 8 children out of 30. These children, it must be noted, are not those of aristocratic backgrounds or who are privately educated. These children are from working class, lower income backgrounds, and with the worsening cost of living crisis, it is anticipated that millions more children will be plunged into poverty. The reality is, the government needs to understand that children are the next generation, they are the future. Any platform that a government of today builds regarding climate change action or new advancements in technology will be developed by governments of the future, run by the children of today. Children and young people are resilient and courageous (for example working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic), so the chances of them developing an advanced and more prosperous future should be high, yet the lack of attention and funding from central government into these children makes that prospect more and more unlikely. This however does not seem to impact the children of high earners as, according to OFQUAL, 32% of private pupils achieved an A* grade at A-Level, compared with only 8% average among state school pupils. It seems that the anomaly to this pattern is children of working class children as children of low income families are bearing the brunt of the negligence of successive Conservative Governments. At the 2022 Labour Party Conference, when asked by Politics Relaxed for a comment on young people, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, and former Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Milliband MP stated, “the Labour Party are committed to combating the issues faced by young people". Labour are dedicated to the cause of inspiring young people. However, the last 12 years of the Tories proves that they do not share the same enthusiasm. Education therefore acts as our second example of how those in low income and working class families are victims of a failed system.
Kwasi Kwarteng’s U-Turn on the 45p income tax aspect of the mini budget was mind blowing. It has not only highlighted the instability of Liz Truss’ government, which eventually reached its boiling point, but also gave the British public unique insight into how, on certain issues, politicians can be completely out of touch with ordinary, working people in Britain, the same people who prop up the country and act as the bedrock of our nation. Moreover, despite reversing the proposed cut to the 45p income tax threshold, the government has been the victim of further condemnation due to its failure to provide clarity as to whether it will raise benefits in line with inflation. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 9.9% in the 12 months to August 2022, down from 10.1% in July and on a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.5% in August 2022, compared with a rise of 0.7% in August 2021. With no increase to benefits and soaring inflation and energy bills, which despite the freeze is nearly £1000 more expensive than this time last year, it is inconceivable for the average person relying on the welfare system to possibly make ends meet with no 3rd-party support. A common misconception of those who receive benefits is that they have no intention to work. This, whilst not always being untrue, is vastly incorrect. In fact, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a study in December 2013 testing whether there were families where three subsequent generations had never worked. Despite a grueling search, it appears that the myths surrounding ‘benefits culture' were debunked as no such families were found. If they exist, they account for a minuscule fraction of workless people. Fewer than 1% of workless households have two generations who have never worked – about 15,000 households in the UK. Families with three such generations will therefore be even fewer. Despite 40% of those on Universal Credit having a job, the wage freezes in the public sector (which disproportionately affect the working class), alongside a benefit freeze makes it very difficult to live. In fact, in order to promote ‘growth’ and save money, the Sunak government could even put a squeeze on benefits. According to Sky News, if benefits were linked to average earnings, it would mean benefits being cut by 4% in real terms. How would this affect real people? A family of four (two adults, two children) could result in losses of up to £1,061 per year. And, with inflation at 10.1% along with wage stagnation since 2010, this massively affects the volume of food that said family is able to purchase and makes utility and energy bills excruciatingly difficult to pay. All while Kwasi Kwarteng contemplated scrapping the top tax rate. So, as the scope of the welfare state is reduced and benefits face a potential squeeze, the welfare system acts as the third and final example of another shocking way in which the working class and lower income Britons are victims of failed systems and governments that are unable to solve the root problems.
It is important to note that these systems that fail millions of people are part of something much bigger: the modern-day United Kingdom. Despite its historic reputation for ‘looking after its own’ “from the cradle to the grave”, the UK faces an identity crisis as multiple systems are failing those that they were installed to help protect. From education to healthcare, from universal credit to welfare, the UK is in a state of turmoil, fuelled by political instability. As is ordinarily the case when a country’s economy and politics are strife with instability, it is working people who bear the brunt. Collectively, these systems and institutions are failing the people, plunging the working class, and many others, into a dangerous state of susceptibility to exploitation from the capitalist society in which we live in.