Sat 11 Jul 2020, 04:03 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER from Tom Smith, Newport West Labour member
The whole programme of Chancellor Rishi Sunak is a farce. Stamp duty reduction on houses does not build new homes. A wage of £4.55 an hour for a 16-year-old on a training programme for 25 hours a week is an insult. A university debt of £50,000 and no career for students is another nightmare in the offing. A £1,000 bribe to save jobs will not help three million unemployed. A £5 donation to a meal will not stop people being flung out of their homes.
Brexit threatens the remnant of manufacturing in this country. The threat of falling food standards is still with us. The poverty being experienced by millions will continue and deepen. It is a programme of spin and empty gestures.
Sadly, the Labour leadership have no socialist alternative other than spending more money. The world economy has the problem of trade wars and overcapacity and will, at best, produce a slow upturn that will not reach growth rates before the pandemic.
The conclusion is that the real agony for workers has hardly begun.
