How the Labour government has hurt the poor

From Spectator Fraser Nelson who in my opinion is one of the best journalists at the moment.

Why are all these Labour MPs worried about the 10p tax? It is the least of the ways in which this Labour government has hurt the poor over its years in government. Let me count the ways – well, half a dozen anyway:

1) Sink schools. By granting LEAs monopoly control over education provision, bureaucrats have keep bad schools going by forcing children there. It’s the children of the poor, however. Reform points this out in its excellent social mobility report today (pdf, p15). While 47 per cent of students achieved five decent GCSEs last year, this was true for just 20% of those eligible for free schools meals. The inequality is getting worse, not better. To paraphrase Neil Kinnock, is this because the poor kids are thick? Nope. It’s because the Labour Party is on the side of the system - and not the poorest pupils.

2) Worst Hospitals. The NHS, like all bureaucracies, responds best to those who complain loudest – the middle class. So the poorest get the worst deal. Patients in deprived areas, despite being in more need of hip replacements are much less likely to get them – as this seminal Civitas pamphlet shows.

3) Poorest getting poorer. In 2001/02 the disposable income of the poorest 10% was £91 a week. The latest data (for 2005/06) has it as £89 a week (pdf, p100). These are real-terms comparisons with a staggering truth: the poorest are now getting poorer under Labour. Why? Because Brown’s policies are focused on those just below his made-up poverty boundary of 60% of the average income. Cross this arbitrary boundary and you (and your children) can be deemed “lifted out of poverty” and inserted in a Labour Party speech. But the very poorest don’t stand a chance of crossing this boundary – so they are forgotten. Leftie disdain for the lumpenproletariat is alive and well.

4) Welfare Dependency. When Labour came to power 5.7m were on out-of-work benefits. After ten years of the economic boom it’s 5.2m – most of the new jobs have gone to or been created by immigrants on whose work ethic Brown has depended. Once, Labour referred to idleness as a “giant evil”. Now, Brown has institutionalised it.

5) Protection from crime. Those living in poor neighbourhoods are 2 times as likely to be robbed and 2.5 times as likely be a victim of violent crime than those living in rich ones, according to the Home Office (pdf, p117). Where I live in Richmond, police are now everywhere – especially fond of patrolling the crime-free towpath of a spring evening. Head into the crime-ridden estates and there’s barely a police car to be seen. You’re now more likely be shot in Lambeth than East Bronx – but people like me are safer than ever.

6) Taxation. Since Labour came to power the number of income tax payers has rocketed by 20% to 31.6m as more and more of the low-paid are being outrageously caught in the tax trap. Then asked to apply for some of their money back in tax credit and be grateful for it. A quarter of those eligible for tax credits don’t claim them, and don’t enter this labyrinth of paperwork. Result? Brown’s cunning “fiscal drag” has ensnared in his complex tax system millions of families struggling to make ends meet. (HMRC pdf, p2). These are the people hit when the starting rate of tax is doubled to 20p.