Job centres to go and people will suffer
THE endless economic assault on Britain’s public sector by an unelected Conservative government has been pushed from the forefront of our minds as the unpleasantness of Trump’s election and “Brexit fallout” becomes a temporary national obsession, but despite these feeble distractions it didn’t go unnoticed that a 20% reduction in DWP offices (and sharing job centres to shave off estate costs) was quietly outlined by the Chancellor in a new bid to “save” £180m.
Nobody mentions that if we took the annual £123bn tax which is avoided, evaded or uncollected, and efficiently invested it in creating stable long-term jobs, the welfare bill would decrease. Or indeed, how many affordable new homes could be built if we stopped handing big business £93bn every single year in corporate subsidies?
It was announced back in December that half of Glasgow’s job centres would shut, affecting about 68,000 people receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance, employment support allowance and universal credit.
Chris Stephens MP, the Scottish National Party’s trade unions spokesman, warned that a sharp increase in sanctions would occur thanks to this calamitous decision. Continuous opposition by the PCS trade union, progressive politicians and claimant support groups forced government to beat a hasty retreat, but a later announcement regarding the future of at least 700 DWP offices has sought to infuriate campaign groups and spur them on to fight again.
Seventy-eight job centres are now earmarked for closure, effectively undermining accessibility to crucial services, and many more DWP offices will be culled as well. Here in the South Wales Valleys, home to the most deprived communities in Britain, this plan also represents a devastating assault on job prospects. For example, more than 1,000 jobs are being proposed to move out of the South Wales Valleys into two sites in Cardiff.
Of course, there are areas within the DWP in desperate need of improvement, but the Tories aren’t interested in progressive reforms. This is all part of their plot to introduce further privatisation into the welfare state. We must reject such ideological barbarity by any and all means at our disposal.
Daniel Pitt Mountain Ash