“Cash-strapped
councils have been forced to scrap social care for 150,000 vulnerable
pensioners and cut child protection spending by 8 percent since 2010,
new analysis shows. As austerity remains firmly on the government’s
agenda, local authority services have been discarded and state
entitlements have shifted dramatically. Detailed analysis of council
spending conducted by the Financial Times indicates that government
services are crumbling in the face of growing demand, with council
budgets being slashed by £18 billion (US$28 billion) since 2010. Yet
despite the pressure that local authorities face, a further £9.5
billion is expected to be cut from council spending by 2020.”
“Tory
plans to plow ahead with further austerity have angered critics who
warn of the rise of Victorian-levels of poverty in Britain. In a
state increasingly characterized by zero-hours contracts, social
cleansing, and drastic welfare reforms, they argue further austerity
will impact heavily on Britain’s most vulnerable.”
“As
councils continue to struggle to accommodate increasing numbers of
families left homeless by the UK’s housing crisis, they are also
inundated with growing numbers of elderly people who require social
care.”
“Children’s
social work departments have seen their funding cut by more than £600
for each child that is referred. Meanwhile, almost 150,000 elderly
disabled people who would have received assistance with washing and
dressing prior to 2010 failed to qualify for these services in 2014.
General services aimed at all UK residents have also seen a steady
decline under Chancellor George Osborne’s stewardship. Councils
have stopped, or stripped back, some household waste collections,
with large goods collections being reduced by over 25 percent since
2012.”
“The
crisis of growing poverty among Britons who have been impacted by
these reforms was laid bare by a series of damning studies published
in recent months. In April, hundreds of psychotherapists, counselors
and mental health practitioners warned 'malign' welfare changes are
having a detrimental effect on Britons’ psychological and emotional
wellbeing. Another report released on May 1 revealed teachers have
taken to washing children’s clothes, feeding them packed lunches
and offering youngsters haircuts as they warn of a resurgence of
Victorian levels of poverty in the UK.”
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Among
other things, Britain is about to sacrifice one of its biggest
achievements, one of the best public health systems, on the altar
of the most cruel form of neoliberalism. Isn't that a huge price
to pay for a potential "national pride" referendum, or,
an anti-immigrant policy with controversial results? Britons
should think twice before they vote, they should look closer on
Greece. They would have seen how five years of the most brutal
neoliberalism literally destroyed the most vital elements of the
social state. At the same time, the middle class has been
systematically impoverished.
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