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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

State of the Nation

by New Worker correspondent

As the General Election campaign steps up we are indebted to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) for shedding light on the state of the nation after 14 years of Tory rule. Their recent report, carried out just before the election was called clearly shows the levels of hardship in Britain. Almost five million households find themselves having to go without essentials. That does not mean cutting down on pizza deliveries but having to cut back on showers and having to skip meals entirely.

It found that the bottom fifth of low-income households are facing continued hardship despite some improvements for those families slightly higher up the income scale.

They found that no less than seven million low-income households (why can’t they just say the poor?) were going without essentials in May this year, with five million taking fewer showers or baths due to higher energy costs. In addition 4.9 million couldn’t replace worn out or outgrown clothing, 3.7 million sold their belongings, 1.6 million stopped using their fridge or freezer. Many more, 6.8 million reduced their use of appliances and 7.2 million heated their homes less than they needed to. While the latter might cheer up the Greens worried about global warming there should be better ways to solve that problem.

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious the Foundation observes that the social security system is failing to act as a safety net for those who have fallen on hard times. No less than 86 per cent of low-income households receiving Universal Credit were going without the essentials in May.

JRF’s senior economist, Rachelle Earwaker, optimistically said “We need our politicians to set out how they will bring an end to this relentless reality of hardship in the general election campaign. Political leaders need to tell us what they will do straight away to help families who can’t afford life’s essentials, as well as their long-term plans to tackle poverty.” She must be delighted that the Tories are promising to abolish stamp duty for first time buyers to help out.

The latest labour market data for February to April is equally bleak with unemployment rising by 138,000 to 1.5 million, or from 4.3 to 4.4 per cent. This is due to a cut in the number of manufacturing jobs and a decline in the retail and hospitality sectors. The hospitality sector saw the heaviest slump with 80,000 fewer than last year. It is ironic that a Tory, Rishi Sunak, should be congratulated for bringing about the old Labour aim of getting the working classes out of the pubs.

There has been an increase in those working in the health and social care service (170,000), education (70,000 more) and public administration. Seemingly growth areas such as information technology have also seen a decline. The number of vacancies also fell between March to May 2024 falling by 12,000 to 904,000. The only bright spot at present is that the recent increase in the minimum wage seems to be forcing some bosses to make modest rises to maintain differentials for workers just above it. That factor has got the Bank of England worried that the working classes are overpaid with wages rising by an average of six per cent.

However some people are doing all right. These are the shareholders of First Group the bus and train operator including Avanti West Coast who are recommending an increase in dividends of 45 per cent. They made an operating profit to £204 million, a 27 per cent rise from £161 million the previous year.

This come despite their train services being beset with problems which saw the Transport for the North quango calling for their contract to be terminated. If agreed by the AGM (as such things usually are), final dividends of £24 million will be paid in August.

This hasn’t gone down well with RMT general secretary Mick Lynch. He complained that First Group has profited at a time when passengers are faced with disruption and poor services. This demonstrated that “we need a single, integrated, publicly owned rail network, and a reversal of the ban on municipal bus companies so that our public transport networks work for passengers and communities, not profit.” A point repeated by his opposite number at Unite, Sharon Graham who complained that “First Group is extracting colossal profits from our bus and rail networks at the expense of passengers and workers. It makes no sense to pour billions of pounds into subsidising public transport and then allow third party operators to profiteer from them by running down jobs and services”. Her query: “It is time for politicians to decide who public transport is supposed to work for, the corporations or the people?” did not provoke any response from Labour who spent the day on the more urgent issue of planning to ban under 16s from buying high energy caffeine drinks.