I was invited to
speak to members of the Mid Norfolk Labour Party at their annual Christmas
social today, which was held in Dereham.
Here's what I said:
Friends, thank-you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I've been thinking about what I would say to you throughout this week
and it was during this week that I was sorting through some Labour Party
documents and I came across this poster that the Party produced during the
1980's. The ‘Country’s crying out for change’ is the headline, and it
shows people standing in front of the unemployment office – unemployment was
around the 3 million mark at this time.
Seeing this poster made me think about Britain today; unemployment is
still a major issue. As of November this year, there are 2.5 million people
unemployed. But unlike before, where unemployment was really one of the main
ways of measuring the success of a Government, and it was a fairly clear-cut
situation, today the picture can be a lot more blurred and there’s a lot more
factors that can be considered.
So we have 2.5 million people unemployed, but in addition to this,
the number of part-time staff, wanting full-time work has increased 36%
since 2010, that’s approximately 1.5 million people. There’s much greater
availability of part-time work and so many people have been taking whatever work they
can. Temporary staff wanting a permanent position have increased by 10% in the
last 3 years. There’s currently around 8.5 million people in the UK
working less than 30 hours a week. This is a particular issue for us here in
the East – where there are significant numbers of people employed part-time,
but wanting full-time work.
What we have also seen is the current Conservative led Government quite
happy it would seem to have a situation where people are forced into low paid jobs and a ultimately a poorer quality of life. There’s 4.8 million people in the
UK that are paid below the living wage – the nationally recognised rate of pay
that helps to ensure that people have at least a reasonable standard of life.
And low paid positions generally have increased by 30% since the last general
election.
One of the figures that really struck me was the figure for long-term
unemployed. Those who have been out of work for a long time particularly
struggle to find work, even if just part-time. Since the Tories came to power,
those that are long-term unemployed have increased by 52%.
Locally, we have been pushing for the Living Wage, and I am grateful to
Breckland colleagues – Robin, Brenda and Sylvia for working on our plans to see
Breckland Council become a Living Wage employer. It was a small victory in the
sense that six people employed by the Council were affected, but they will now not
be paid below £7.50 an hour. But, it was actually a massive victory in the
sense that there are only 4 Labour Councillors on Breckland and we managed to
get through a policy change that was our own and resulted in a fairer situation
for those affected. The next step is to continue this across our parish and
Town Councils and contractors working for them, and contractors working for
Breckland as well.
Whilst I was thinking about this ‘crying out for change’ slogan, it
reminded me of the phrase that Ed Milliband has adopted - “we can do better
than this” – those that watched his speech to conference will recall that this
was a big part of what he said and it is certainly a theme that’s running
through the Labour Party’s campaigning.
This crying out for change approach made me think as well about the
bedroom tax, because people are most definitely crying out for change in this
regard as well.
I'm not sure if you have seen the district by district figures for bedroom
tax claimants? Breckland was the third highest out of 15 districts in Norfolk,
Suffolk and Essex. Breckland is supposed to be an affluent, wealthy area but we
had more people affected by the bedroom tax than areas such as Great Yarmouth
and Lowestoft. We have over 1,000 people in our district affected, losing on
average £800 a year as a result of these changes. We have nearly as many people
affected as Kings Lynn for example. Why is this? I believe it’s because for
years as a District there has been insufficient investment in social housing
(council housing to you and I). And where new homes have been built, they have
tended to be 3 bedroom properties. The vast majority of people that have come
to me wanted or needed a 1 or 2 bedroom property but were forced into
properties that were too large.
One girl I spoke to, asked repeatedly for a two
bedroom property, but was told that there were none available and that if she
didn’t accept the 3 bedroom property, then she would be taken off the housing
wait list altogether. Six months later she was hit with the bedroom tax and is
now struggling to cover her costs.
There was a woman in her 40’s that contacted me, after years of abuse
she left her husband who would often hit her, she took her daughter with her and applied for a 2 bedroom property - but there were none available,
it was either a 3 bedroom house, or be housed in a hostel away from the town and
lose her job. She actually said to me that she wondered if she would have been
better off is she had stayed with her husband?
Then there was the guy that contacted me, trying to get his life back on
track after suffering depression from his marriage break-up which led to him
turning to alcohol. He came out of supported accommodation determined to get
his life sorted but got put into a 3 bedroom house - he would have been happy
with a 1 bedroom flat, but there were none available. He’s now in rent arrears
because of the bedroom tax, and cannot transfer to a smaller property now even
if one became available because he’s in arrears – absolute madness. The cost to
the state from the deterioration in his health and the additional care costs
that go with it, will far outweigh any ‘saving’ through the bedroom tax.
What struck me with these people that spoke to me was that you won’t see them on a poster, they would be either too embarrassed, or too afraid to do so. Many are worried about being labelled as 'scroungers'. They came to their Labour Councillor for help and it is up to us, all of us to highlight their stories for them and to fight for them.
I think a further indication that our
country is ‘crying out for change’ is through food-banks. Isn’t it outrageous
that foodbanks are now a familiar sight in nearly every town up and down the
country? There’s even been a food-bank set-up in Hunstanton, obviously not ‘sunny-hunny’
for everyone living there.
Again, many aspects of the media, and many people would believe that it’s really the lazy and usual suspects that need food-banks, so I wanted to share with you a personal example...
In the Summer, my dad had a stroke, my
dad’s just 55 – so it was rather unexpected, dad was in hospital for 3 weeks
and lost the use of the left hand side of his body. My dad worked as an
engineer, for a company for 25 years, he would often work 50-60 hour weeks. Mum
got made redundant some years ago and now works in a local supermarket. Both
have been off work since the stroke. Dad is eligible for disability allowance
as a result of the stroke, but 18 weeks after the stroke, he still hasn’t
received a penny. The Government
department dealing with his case is struggling to get the information they need
from the hospital to process his claim and the doctors surgery needs constant
chasing. Physio visits to my parent’s house have been missed and they’ve been
left to feel like they have to fight for support to carry-on. My parents who
worked hard all their life, they’ve paid taxes and they’ve contributed to
society – they have considered using the food-bank.
Is this the sort of Great Britain that
we live in? Of course not, we can do better than this, the country is crying out for change.
Comrades, it would be remiss of me to
not mention the passing of Nelson Mandella this week. I’ve seen a number of
quotes, but this one particularly was really relevant for us today;
NELSON MANDELA
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”
It’s up to us in the Labour Party, here in Breckland and elsewhere, to remain optimistic, we’ve got to highlight situations and stories like the ones I have referred to. We need to do this through whatever means we can, whether it be motions at Council, letters to the paper, through leaflets and door knocking – we’ve got to let people know that they are not alone, we understand the issues that they are facing and that we are prepared to fight. We recognise that people are ‘crying out for change’, and that the Labour Party can bring them the change that they need.
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