According to the study by the Poverty and Social Exclusion project, 33% of households are forced to live below the poverty line, defined as going without three or more basic needs of life such. As being unable to feed and clothe themselves and their children and to heat and insure their homes. In the early 1980s, the comparable figure was 14%. The capitalist; Labour Party will use this study for their propaganda, claiming they will fight poverty. In reality the social democrats caused this poverty with their New Labour governments between 1997 and 2010!
Causes of poverty:
- Disability ( disabled adults are twice as likely to live in low income households as non-disabled adults )
- Illness ( unable to work, forced to live on very little money )
- Mental illness ( not able to meet labour market demands )
- Low Intelligence ( not able to get average paid jobs )
- Unemployment ( means poverty for millions )
- Being born to poor parents ( not able to pay for their child education )
- Being a lone parent ( half of all lone parents are on a low income )
- Racial discrimination ( ethnic racism is strong in the UK )
- Capitalist exploitation ( paid low wages )
- Inherent biases in the capitalist system ( having to pay a higher rate of interest on a loan for example )
Capitalism in Britain is cruel and greedy. Like most capitalist nations, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is still facing the effects of the 2008 economic crisis. With help from the social democrats of the Labour Party, the ruling class has enforced brutal austerity politics on the British working class. These austerity attacks are supported by the social democrats who have the audacity to call their Labour Party, a democratic socialist party. Revolutionary socialists reject this, as the Labour Party is just another political pillar of the British ruling class, who's wealth has increased because of government deregulations and anti-worker politics of people like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown!
Workers in Great Britain need a workers party. Unfortunate many trade unions still support the capitalist; Labour Party. There is also the outdated idea that the social democrats are leftist, which is no longer the case. Social democracy betrayed the working class to the capitalist class since ''Iron Lady'' Thatcher took power in the early 1980's. Social democrats capitulated to capitalism after the collapse of stalinism. Tony Blair is the living proof of a social democratic leader who carried out right-wing neoliberal politics. Blair's New Labour government was also imperialistic, supporting the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq!
A huge problem of poverty is that fact that families can no longer live on a single income. Both parents need to work to survive in the capitalist society that is Britain. In most European nations this is becoming more and more standard. An average working class family with two or three children cannot survive on a single income any-more. 30 years ago a family could live on a average salary. But under neoliberalism, the costs of living has increased. Rising prices for basic-needs has left a lot of British families poorer. The upper class of Britain is not facing these problems, their income is very high. Here we show the salaries of wealthy British people, who do not suffer because of poverty. Their incomes are in British Pounds £!
David Cameron ( Prime minister ) £142,500
Tony Hall ( BBC boss ) £450,000
Mike Rees ( Standard Chartered bank boss ) £8,986,000
Wayne Rooney £15,600,000
Angela Ahrendts ( Burberry boss ) £16,900,000
Queen Elizabeth £36,100,000
Crispin Odey ( hedge fund speculator ) £14,200,000
Carolyn McCall ( EasyJet boss ) £6,430,000
Now let us look at the incomes of working class jobs in the UK: Their incomes are in British Pounds. The average income in the UK is £26.000, but four in five new jobs are in sectors averaging under £16,640 for a 40-hour week. Working full-time on the £6.31 hourly minimum wage would gross just £ Four in five new jobs are in sectors averaging under £16,640 for a 40-hour work week. Working full-time on the £6.31 hourly minimum wage would gross just £13,124 ( €16,300 ) in a year!
- Lollipop ladies £3,187 average
- Theme park attendants £6,011
- Bar staff £7,317
- Playworkers £7,400
- Waiters & waitresses £7,655
- Cleaners £8,067
- Florists £8,960
- Hairdressers £10,174
- Fitness instructors £10,378
- Shopworkers £11,174
- Cooks £11,346
- Nursery nurses £11,163
- Beauticians £12,418
- Window cleaners £12,561
- Receptionists £12,595
- Care workers £12,804
- Childminders £12,949
- Telephonists £14,032
- Tailors & Dressmakers £14,482
- Caretakers £16,114
- Secretaries £16,384
- Cabbies £16,416
- Customer service £16,525
- Undertakers £16,526
- Packers £16,820
- Tele sales £17,362
- Chefs £17,391
- Gardeners £17,595
- Street cleaners £17,616
- Butchers £17,681
- Hospital porters £17,748
- Farm workers £17,925
- Traffic wardens £18,065
- Travel agents £18,344
- Van drivers £18,744
- Tyre & exhaust fitters £18,888
- Bank clerks £19,908
- Youth & Community workers £20,000
These jobs are all paid under £20,000 ( €24,974 ). This is why revolutionary socialists reject the capitalist system. All these workers must work 40 hours a week, while rich people like Carolyn McCall are paid £6,430,000 ( €8.029.000 ) a year. The British ruling class was a lot poorer before 1980, before Thatcher came. Now there is a huge gab between the poor and the rich in the UK. To blame are the politicians who made this possible. Right-wing scum like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. They serve the ruling class, the peo ple who own the means of production. The people who exploit the working class. British workers must understand that their poverty is the result of the capitalist system. Voting on the Labour Party will keep this capitalist system intact. New Labour will not end poverty, it is responsible for austerity and exploitation.
Workers of Britain have a political voice. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is not yet a workers party, but it unites the most class consciousness socialists and trade unionists. TUSC is standing against the austerity cuts that caused this massive poverty. They stand against Labour, Tories and the LibDem ( Liberal Democrats ). Unfortunate class consciousness among British workers is as low as in the rest of Europe. The collapse of stalinism has discredit socialism and the turn to the right by social democracy has also led to massive disillusionment. 35% of all British voters did not vote in the 2010 general elections. This shows that 1/3 of the population in the United Kingdom does not believe that politicians can change anything. A direct result of the fact that all three major political parties, offer no alternatives to the dictatorship of capitalism!
Child poverty in Great Britain.
20% of all children in London live in poverty!!
