Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition press release on today's budget:
TUSC Chair and ex-Labour MP Dave Nellist said: “Hoping to gain a few extra votes, the Chancellor has tried to sell this budget as a little relief from the endless austerity he has offered up for the last five years. It is nothing of the sort. The coalition once again banged the austerity drum, promising £30 billion worth of cuts, including £12 billion from welfare. George Osborne says austerity is working but the queues at food banks and pay day lenders tell a different story.
“This government of millionaires might think things are improving, but most ordinary workers are facing a Dickensian future rather than a bright recovery. George Osborne says wages have started to increase but – that is only if you include bankers’ bonuses in the figures! In fact they are still lower than they were before the ‘Great Recession’ – for young people a massive 12.5% lower. A 20p an hour increase in the minimum wage is a drop in the ocean compared to that. TUSC is campaigning for an immediate £10 an hour minimum wage for all with no exemptions.
“No one who has experienced five years of Con-Dem government will be surprised by this budget, but where is the opposition? Labour also promises continued austerity. When Osborne put his plans for £30 billion worth of cuts under the next government to parliament only five Labour MPs voted against it!
“It is time to take a stand. That is why the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition has attracted a record number of anti-austerity candidates in the elections on 7 May 2015.”
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