“We need a future, not fear, to recover our economy”, says
McCluskey
26 September 2011
Addressing delegates at the Labour party conference today
(Monday 26 September), the general secretary of the country’s
biggest union denounced the government for “ripping apart our
public services and cruelly pushing people into poverty.”
Len McCluskey said: “The people that this government attack for
being a ‘burden’ on public spending are the people who look after
our sick, who educate our children.
“Daily, we are bombarded with the message that ‘there is no
alternative’ to the assaults on our public services and welfare
state. People hear nothing to give them hope from ministers or the
media. We are now facing a depression far longer than that which
gripped the globe in the 1930s.
“Little wonder then that people are frightened. They are worried
about losing their job, they are anxious about how they are going
to pay their mortgage, they don’t know how they will be able to
afford to educate their children.
“They see a future that is bleak. And they see a government that,
despite all the indicators and the chorus of calls to change
course, rigidly sticks to its ‘cuts and hurt’ strategy.”
Len McCluskey called upon Labour to offer a clear alternative to
the coalition’s strategy: “People are crying out for leadership.
They need to know they can feel hopeful about the future of our
country.
“Labour must lead this - but it cannot simply be the party that
cuts a little less than the Tories. That will not win the next
election.
“Labour must offer a vision of hope with policies that will deliver
growth, jobs and fair taxation. It needs to tell the voters
straight – Labour will improve your living standards, no more must
you fear your children will be worse off than you.”
Unite is calling for alternative economic policies which it says
are a win-win for everyone, including:
- Putting the publicly-owned Royal Bank of Scotland to the better
use of the nation by instructing it to invest in the economy,
operating as a National Investment Bank (NIB).
- Instructing the NIB to help lend to build 100,000 homes, so
creating 750,000 construction jobs and beginning to tackle the 4.5
million people in housing need in this country. Building housing
starts declined by 61 per cent in the first three months of
2011.
- Ending the government’s increased tax burden on the lowest paid
through VAT increases and the nasty stigmatisation of those on
benefits, while protecting the high earners by failing to pursue
the £70 billion in tax which is illegally evaded each year with an
additional £25 billion avoided.
Len McCluskey continues: “Labour must put itself firmly on the side
of ordinary people. This is in sharp contrast to this government
which is on the side of big business and the powerful.
“We need jobs that are good jobs, for this nation to lose its
unwanted crown earned as the easiest place to sack workers in
Europe and its reputation as an unhappy country where the poorest
are clobbered while the wealthy see their riches grow.
“This is the way to win the next general election – and to
transform our country into the more equal, prosperous society we
all want it to be.” McCluskey ended.
Len McCluskey was speaking at a Unite fringe meeting on the economy
held at this year's Labour conference.
ENDS
For further information please call Pauline Doyle on 07976 832 861
or Ciaran Naidoo on 07768 931 315
