David Cameron leaves the stage with his wife Samantha after his address to the Conservative Party conference, earlier this year.
A member of the public breaks down, as David Cameron moves to cut tax credits
In Britain, a clip from the BBC programme Question Time went viral this week. In it, mother-of-four Michelle Dorrell angrily explains to a Tory government minister why she feels that David Cameron’s Conservative Party has betrayed her, breaking down in tears as she expresses her outrage over the latest new round of welfare cuts, which will kick in before the end of the year.
“You’re about to cut tax credits after promising you wouldn’t… I can hardly afford the bills I’ve got and you’re going to take more away from me. Shame on you,” Dorrell, a self-employed beautician who works from home, said.
The seemingly now former Tory voter was referring to the impact of the UK government’s post-election budget, which will fully kick in just in time for Christmas, leaving thousands of families to cope with a large hit to their finances. Happy holidays indeed.
Some estimates put the total worth of the cuts at £4.5 billion, something that hangs uneasily with moderates within the PM’s party and even – by the sound of his past veiled criticism – London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Cameron, of course, arrived on the political scene by playing up his caring, compassionate side. And last year, a week before the general election, he said on national TV that tax credits would stay (as he first did in 2006).
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron.
His government argues that actually, the poorest will be left better off as a result of their new budgetary adjustments, with an increase in the minimum wage allegedly compensating for the cut in tax credits.
The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies calls that idea “arithmetically impossible” and has concluded that 13 million families will lose an average of £240 a year, while three million more will lose around £1,000 a year.
The government’s argument too is disingenuous. The decision to cut aspects of social security and welfare is ideological. It’s a choice to tackle this, rather than say, tax evasion, offshore wealth, abuses in the financial sector or bankers’ bonuses, and it’s important – just as it was when Labour turned their back on their promises – that such bodies are around to illustrate this.
@URLgoeshere
An edited version of this column was published in the Buenos Aires Herald, on Sunday, October 18, 2015 as part of the ‘Perspectives’ series.
Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/201170/the-poverty-of-unkept-promises.