Agenda item

That this Council:-

(a)       believes the working poor and their families are under attack and are losing the battle; income has fallen for the poorest due to benefit changes and wage compression; and these issues and related problems are a direct result of "Austerity" policies perpetrated by the current and previous governments, and the poorest in society are now bearing the majority of the cuts, and the Government is shifting its debt onto them, creating more hardship and reducing state services to the neediest in our society;

(b)       notes that, at the same time, the Government is creating an additional £60bn of Quantitative Easing to spend in the financial markets, which makes a total Quantitative Easing package of £435bn to be deployed so far, and wonders what good could have been made of this kind of financial clout for the benefit of society as a whole;

(c)        regrets that under the current government this theme of the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer is likely to continue, and believes it is a disgrace that this situation has been allowed to proceed as far has it has;

(d)       asks where is the opposition, and where is the alternative economic policy?;

(e)       condemns the system of planned corporate control, known as "Globalisation", which this Council believes was created by stealth and deception, and is a system that benefits the financial interests of the City of London at the expense of the rest of society;

(f)        believes the UK needs Quantitative Easing for the people, investing in the real economy, helping finance small businesses who still find it difficult to secure funding, and making it easier for small and medium-sized businesses with 250 employees or less to tender for public sector contracts;

(g)       also believes this money could be used to allow young people to start an apprenticeship in place of four non-core subjects at GCSE level, and to abolish tuition fees for those studying science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine;

(h)       further believes a policy of re-nationalising our railways, transport system, utilities and services would, in the future, benefit society as a whole; and

(i)         places on record this Council’s belief that, at this moment, we have a system of “Socialism for the Bankers” and “Capitalism for the Workers”.