Millionaire Tories are out of touch
BY RENFREWSHIRE SOUTH MSP TOM ARTHUR
There was another Twitter storm brewing this week on the cost-of-living crisis.
It all kicked off when a rightwing commentator rolled his eye at a nurses’s claim that she was struggling to feed her family and had to skip meals to get by.
He offered the unhelpful advice that a bag of pasta only costs 50p and that it is easy to eat cheaply and healthily.
I’m sure that people across Renfrewshire South will be joining me in my dismay at this assertion and understand that issues relating to the cost of living crisis go much deeper than that.
For people across Scotland, the Tory cost of living crisis is devastating.
A value bag of pasta is no good if you cannot afford to turn on your cooker.
You cannot send your children to school with only a small portion of plain pasta in their bellies.
Another common trope is that ‘poor people’ should get rid of their fancy phones and flat-screen TVs.
This tired line is deeply frustrating and dehumanising.
Should people who claim benefits – the majority of whom are in work – not be entitled to watch TV for a bit of entertainment at the end of the day?
Or should they get in their timemachines and find some of those old TVs on wheels that take up half the living room?
Not to mention that most benefits are managed and applied for online – along with job applications – and a mobile phone on a monthly contract is a lot cheaper than paying monthly broadband bills or buying a laptop.
It’s expensive being poor, and it boils my blood that millionaire Tories in Westminster have no concept of how people live, or the sacrifices that have already been made to just get by.
For many, there is no more financial belt-tightening.
Thankfully, there is some support available.
In Johnstone, there is the recently introduced Community Pantry, run by Active Communities.
There is just a small nominal fee and, for that, members can access around £25 worth of foodstuffs and other products from the venture, which is operated as part of the Scottish Pantry Network.
In Lochwinnoch, residents can attend the Community Larder, which provides surplus fresh produce and other foods to any resident who attends, regardless of their circumstances.
Local Energy Action Plan (LEAP) offers services across the region. It helps residents to save energy and money through free impartial advice on insulation, draught proofing, heating, renewable energy generation, grants and subsidies.
Organisations like this are going to be particularly important as we weather the storm of gas and electricity price caps being lifted to unprecedented levels.
At a nationwide level, Home Energy Scotland can provide similar services too.
Organisations like East Renfrewshire Council’s Money Advice and Rights Team (MART) can offer free, expert and confidential advice about debt to all local residents.
It can also help with the application and appeals processes of welfare benefits which can be a tricky path to navigate if you are unfamiliar with the necessary procedures and criteria involved.
You can contact them for an appointment at eastrenfrewshire. gov.uk/mart-contact.
Also on the council’s website, there is a handy section with links to relevant benefits that you may be entitled to at www. eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/benefits if you would prefer to look into this yourself.
For those in Renfrewshire, you can get in touch with Advice Works, which provides similar services to MART, and it can be reached by calling 0300 300 1238.
The council’s website has a great guide to money, benefits and financial help you might be able to access at www.renfrewshire. gov.uk/article/10123/Moneybenefitys-or-financial-help-youcould-get#food
The Scottish Government is already protecting the people of Scotland from some aspects of UK austerity – for example, through mitigating the Tory bedroom tax.
With one hand tied behind its back, the Scottish Government has introduced a new social security system – with 11 new benefits, such as the gamechanging Scottish Child Payment, the only benefit of its kind in the UK.
However, around 85 per cent of welfare expenditure remains reserved to Westminster – and damaging Tory policies like the Universal Credit undermine the progress we deliver in Scotland.
My office is open to help anyone who needs assistance. Pop in Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, or email tom.arthur.msp@ parliament.scot
Millionaire Tories in Westminster have no concept of how people live, or the sacrifices that have been made just to get by