Only the working class can “build back better”...

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Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials
19 January 2021

Labour’s motion asking for the £20/week “Covid” top-up to Universal Credit to be retained, was passed in the House of Commons, 278 to 0. But this was only because Johnson told Tory MPs to abstain. Of course, proposing the motion was pure politicking by Labour. The government is not obliged to change tack. And so far, its “tack” is to end the top-up.

    But Johnson didn’t want a repeat of his shaming by the likes of footballer, Marcus Rashford, as happened when he whipped his MPs to vote against free school meals. In fact this time, 6 Tory MPs joined Labour to vote for the motion. And the so-called Northern Research group of 65 Tory MPs had already told Johnson that cutting this £20 would be “devastating”. They’re worried about losing the seats which they only just gained from Labour in the de-industrialised and destitute “North”...

    Already 16 million people rely on that paltry £20 extra credit to keep their heads above the water. If it’s cut, how many more will sink below the surface?

    It remains to be seen what Sunak will offer when he presents his budget on 3 March. He has already shown what his priorities are, with another £4.6 billion “fresh financial support package for struggling UK companies” already handed out.

    There has been talk of a £500 one-off payment to claimants. But unsurprisingly, there’s no "fresh package for struggling workers". Sunak has repeated the usual Tory line about state welfare being bad for the working class (but not for the bosses!) - and said that he will instead, support “job creation”... yes, by companies who he himself predicts will be cutting another 900,000 jobs this year!!

    He has launched a “Build Back Better” campaign for “a post-Covid recovery” - claiming its single most important policy is the vaccine roll-out. However, the underlying cause of the mess we are in, is something there’s no vaccine for: a rotten and degenerate capitalist system. Against it, there is only our collective working class fight back.