In recent years the Tories have been fond of using three- or four-word slogans to put across their politics, all of them simplistic appeals to ignorance and prejudice ahead rational thinking.
Thus we were treated to ‘Get Brexit Done’ and ‘Bring Back Control’. More recently, we have had ‘Wash Your Hands’ as the Tories first (and at the time the only) answer to the coronavirus outbreak. Boris Johnson’s pompous posturing during the December election campaign seems a million miles away from where we are now and his Bullingdon Club blustering will be put to a severe test now that he has to deal with a serious issue. So much for a blue passport…fat lot of good that is now!
But when this is all over, and it will be, there will need to be a fierce discussion of where we were at – and especially where the NHS was at – when the Covid-19 outbreak started and, even more importantly, how we got there.
We would like to offer a slogan of our own, not as a substitute for debate but as a starting point and in preparation for that very important discussion that will have to take place. We suggest that it should be ‘No Going Back’ and here are some of the ideas it might encompass. It is by no means a complete list; perhaps you might want to add a few of your own. Please send in your suggestions.
NHS
NO GOING BACK. To NHS workers being underpaid
NO GOING BACK. To NHS workers being over-worked
NO GOING BACK. To the NHS being short of staff because of low pay
NO GOING BACK. To profiteering from privatisation of sections of the NHS. All private contracts should be cancelled and services brought back in-house.
NO GOING BACK. To a 2-tier health service – all private hospitals and clinics should be integrated into the NHS
NO GOING BACK. To profiteering from the NHS paying through the nose for drugs and equipement – nationalise the drug companies and equipment manufacturers
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
NO GOING BACK. To PFI scams ripping off the NHS and local authorities. All PFIs should be cancelled without compensation and buildings and facilities restored to the NHS and local authorities.
NO GOING BACK. To a care system based on making profits by poor services and low pay – all elderly care services should be owned and managed by local authorities with good care and decent pay levels.
NO GOING BACK. To cutting local authority services to the bone – local authority spending must be returned to the levels of 2010 before the Tories started their swingeing cuts.
WORKERS RIGHTS
NO GOING BACK. To key workers, like refuse collectors, shop workers, farm workers, postal workers, care workers, NHS workers, and others, being the lowest paid in society – we demand a decent living wage for all.
NO GOING BACK. To a welfare system that penalises and stigmatises people for being poor or out of work – abolish Universal Credit and replace it with a living wage equivalent of £300 a week.
NO GOING BACK. To a punitive regime of interviews and trip-wires for benefit claimants, with the aim of sanctioning them – restoration of benefits to the equivalent levels of a decent living wage, with immediate effect after application
NO GOING BACK. To workers being forced onto fake ‘self-employment’ without sick pay, holiday pay and other statutory rights. ALL workers should have these rights.
NO GOING BACK. To punitive sanctions on trade unions trying to defend workers rights. All anti-trade union legislation should be repealed and unions allowed by right to organise in all places of work.
TAXES AND BUSINESS
NO GOING BACK. To a railway system run for the benefit of a few shareholders – all franchises should be cancelled without compensation and integrated into a national rail network
NO GOING BACK. To tax-dodging and optional taxes for businesses and the rich and powerful – ALL personal payments, salaries and benefits related to any employment should be done through a PAYE system: if it is good enough for teachers and nurses, it is good enough for hedge-fund bosses and CEOs.
NO GOING BACK. To tax havens used to dodge taxes on an industrial scale. All British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories should be forced to integrate company and taxation law with the UK
NO GOING BACK. To building companies sitting on land and resources and failing to build enough homes. Nationalise the top building companies to plan an urgent house-building programme to provide a decent home for all.
NO GOING BACK. To the unplanned, chaotic market-system, rigged to benefit only a tiny minority of the population. Nationalise the top FTSE100 companies and plan the nation’s resources for the benefit of all and not a handful of wealthy shareholders.
March 26, 2020
