John McDonnell on Housing Benefit

John McDonnell’s speech in Parliament on the issue of Housing Benefit.

Full text of John’s speech from Hansard:

John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab): This debate has been enlightening in many respects thanks to Members on both sides of the House. I shall not be repetitious; I shall just concentrate on putting on the record the plight of my constituents and the implications of the policy for them. It will at least give me some peace of mind that someone has spoken up for them.

Like every other Member, I have a weekly advice surgery-about twice a week at the moment. We have an open-door policy at the office, and we are swamped with casework, as many Members are. Half my casework is housing-related, and my surgery is the most distressing part of my week, as I am sure the surgery is for many Members are. It is heart-rending.

Families, who come with their children, are living in appalling housing conditions: overcrowded, sleeping three or four to a room and often, as the hon. Member for Wells (Tessa Munt) said, using their living rooms and other parts of the accommodation as bedrooms. They live in unsanitary conditions, lacking heat and hot water, and often their premises are damp. They live a nomadic life in my constituency, with 12 to 18-month accommodation licences, and their children move from school to school, disrupting their education.

We have not seen a housing crisis on this scale since the second world war. In the borough, I have 1,500 to 2,000 families and more who are homeless at any point in time. The reason for that has been mentioned-the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) referred to it-and it is that the bulk of our council housing stock has been sold off. Little council housing has been built in 30 years, under both Governments, and the buy-to-let landlords have moved in to provide the accommodation. They fail in many instances to maintain the properties, and we also have Rachmanite landlords who abuse their tenants. They are profiteering from the housing shortage with high rents and, of course, through housing benefit, but I find it ironic that in this debate Members on one side of the House seem to be blaming the tenants and housing benefit for high rents, not the landlords themselves, who charge those high rents and exploit the benefits system.

Many families in my area already struggle to pay the rent, and many already make up the gap between benefits and rents. They receive some discretionary payments from the council, but they are few and far between, and the families get into debt and fall back on loan sharks. As a result, they often fall into rent arrears, get evicted and then become classified as intentionally homeless. We can see how people can get caught in a cycle of deprivation.

The new proposals will exacerbate the nightmare that many of my constituents already face. Some 3,000 families will lose out on anything between £6 and £27 a week. The London Councils survey, which has been quoted extensively, demonstrates that a large number of landlords have stated that they will evict families if the gap in rent is more than £20. Many families in my constituency will be evicted, and they are already rushed through eviction as it is. That means that there will be an increase in homelessness in my area and it will be extremely difficult to find accommodation. I already have families moving out of the area on different schemes who find it very difficult to find work elsewhere and then desperately seek to come back to be close to their family members.

The results of these proposals-I want to put this on record for my constituents-will be an increase in poverty, immense stress, and immense distress for many people, particularly at a time when unemployment is rising in my constituency, as it is across the country. I do not believe that cuts in benefits are the answer, or that people are incentivised to find work by poverty or by homelessness-in fact, it pushes them back into further depths of despair.

There is an alternative proposal for which many in this House have argued for a number of years. First, it is about building council homes again, and getting back to investing on a scale that meets the needs of our population. That means an element of redistribution of wealth and ensuring that people pay their taxes, particularly the corporations, so we must tackle tax avoidance and evasion. I believe that we need an emergency programme of house building to tackle the homelessness that we now have, particularly in London and the south-east.

Secondly, there should be rent controls. If benefits are high because rents are high, there is a simple solution that applies in many parts of Europe, where people have controlled the rents and thereby stopped the exploitation by landlords.

Thirdly, in areas such as mine we need a more radical solution to the level of homelessness. We should allow councils compulsorily to purchase empty properties so that we can put families into them. I find it a disgrace that a house will stand empty for a long period. Some 300,000 properties are empty for more than six months, while people are on the streets or living in housing deprivation. We have a housing crisis on our hands, and we need an emergency programme to tackle it.

I certainly do not believe that cuts in benefits will go any way towards tackling this problem-in fact, that approach will cause more homelessness, put more people into deprivation, and cause immense human suffering in our society. That is why I support the motion, and why I will do everything I possibly can in this House, in demonstrations, and in direct action on the streets to oppose these housing benefit proposals.

 

 

Why I won’t wear a poppy

Remembrance Day is nearly upon us. To explain my own feelings regarding this day and the symbolism of the red poppy, I will re-post something I blogged this time last year. And also this letter here that appeared in the Guardian letters page recently, here’s a section of it:

The public are being urged to wear a poppy in support of “our Heroes”. There is nothing heroic about being blown up in a vehicle. There is nothing heroic about being shot in an ambush and there is nothing heroic about fighting in an unnecessary conflict.

The photograph was taken at a local shopping centre where the trees were festooned with poppies. I found it kinda eerie especially in the evening light.

Post from 2009

It is this time of year I start to see the shock of red poppies. What does the red poppy represent? What does Remembrance represent? As a kid growing up I was very aware of this particular day, the living room wall would be festooned with bright red poppies combined with the other military regalia. And pride of place was the medal my brother received for ‘bravery’ for service in the north of Ireland. Remembrance Day was a big deal in my house, and when I was a kid I wore my red poppy with pride.

But as time went on and I grew up, my political consciousness kicked in and I started to question Remembrance Day and the symbolism of the red poppy. I used to become transfixed by my brother’s war medal hanging on the wall where the in-laws and relatives would gawp at with national pride. Eventually I exclaimed, ‘How much blood is on that medal’? I think my mother thought I was being literal in that statement but once she understood what I meant it culminated in her shouting and lecturing me about the importance of what my brother did. I refused to wear the red poppy as it symbolised imperialism and colonialism; past, present and future wars. Selective remembrance based on the establishment’s terms. Elected war criminals standing at the Cenotaph representing jingoism and “our boys” mentality.

During those years living at home I started to wear a white poppy but I became dissatisfied with that. At this time of year I don’t wear any poppy of any kind. As I wrote last year around this time:

The glorification of war symbolic with the red poppy. Who are we remembering? Working class young people sent off to do the bidding of imperialism and ending up as canon fodder? War can shape political ideas, WW1 certainly shaped the political consciousness of my grandfather who realised he had been sold a lie and had been fighting a futile war where thousands died on the battlefields.

What about the victims of imperialism and colonialism? From Aden, Mau-Mau uprising, Korea, Vietnam, Ireland, Malvinas, Chile, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq…. and so on and so on? What about the war crimes committed in Fallujah, Haditha, Bloody Sunday…and so on and so on?

And with Remembrance we have the bourgeois acceptable and sentimental poetry of Lawrence Binyen and Rupert Brooke with their heroic glorification of the soldier. While Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen saw the brutal realities of war and the battlefield, they tried to counteract the pro-war propaganda being churned out at the time. Somehow, I can’t imagine Anthem for a Doomed Youth being read out.

WWI psychologically damaged my grandfather, one of a generation of people scarred by that futile and barbaric war. He suffered from ‘shell-shock’ which in 21^st century terms means post-traumatic stress disorder. He would turn to alcohol as a way of dealing with the trauma that continued to dog him throughout his life. He never spoke about his experiences instead he would stare into the fire and silently cry. My mother as a kid caught him crying, she asked him what was wrong he replied that she wouldn’t want to know. Again, this reflects a time when the ‘done thing’ was to keep trauma and pain bottled up tightly and to search for a remedy and that remedy was booze, an instant way to ‘forget’ the horrors of warfare. On a positive side my grandfather, who before the war had no interest in politics, became an organised trade unionist, the subject of war politicised him. My grandfather objected to my brother signing up to join the army in the early 70s. Why he asked, ‘it is not as if you are being conscripted’. My grandfather died in 1972, I was 2 years old, never consciously met him though my mother used to say he would sing to me as a baby…the standing joke was that he sang ‘The Red Flag’ to me and that became ingrained in my psyche. My brother made a political choice to sign – up, one which damaged him by turning him into a violent and screwed-up man. The five years he spent turned into something I rarely like to think about as I experienced the full throttle of his misery and anger. Yet he was a foot soldier for imperialism, firing plastic bullets into crowds on the streets of Belfast. My brother wallowed in his own self-pity and never once recognised his role as a soldier propping up imperialism by being part of an occupying force. Even after all these years I have great difficulty in coming to terms with what my brother did on a personal level to me as there is a residue of anger. On a political level it is far easier to reject what my brother did. I loathed what he did and still do.

I apologise if this seems deeply personal but after so many years I still find it hard to grapple with my conflicting emotions and deal with the anger and pain. And this time of year brings those jarring emotions to the surface along with bringing into focus the whole brutality, violence, hypocrisy and vileness of warfare.

So here’s Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Workfare creeps in

The unemployed will be ordered to do periods of compulsory full-time work in the community or be stripped of their benefits under controversial American-style plans to slash the number of people without jobs.

The proposals, in a white paper on welfare reform to be unveiled this week, are part of a radical government agenda aimed at cutting the £190bn-a-year welfare bill and breaking what the coalition now calls the “habit of worklessness”.

The measures will be announced to parliament by the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, as part of what he will describe as a new “contract” with the 1.4 million people on jobseekers’ allowance. The government’s side of the bargain will be the promise of a new “universal credit”, to replace all existing benefits, that will ensure it always pays to work rather than stay on welfare.

And if that’s not reactionary enough…

The Department for Work and Pensions plans to contract private providers to organise the placements with charities, voluntary organisations and companies.

Just let the private sector loose on those proposals.

Where to start? Firstly, Labour should take a helluva responsibility for this, they started this hideous Frankenstein monster of welfare reform (thank-you James Purnell….) no wonder they are kinda quiet on this. The ConDems are just taking it to another turbo-charged level.

Secondly, will there be rights of appeal when stripped of benefits? Will there be procedures in place for claimants to do this? We will have to wait and see. But these are scary times.

Interestingly, the ConDems and neither did New Labour look and take notice at this research by the DWP on reviewing Workfare schemes globally in 2008. The conclusions were that…

Workfare doesn’t work!

The research found that workfare doesn’t improve job prospects rather it can limit the chances of employment by failing to provide skills training and also time available to find work. And because of the compulsory nature of workfare, people drop-out of welfare and therefore as it acts as a deterrent it is harder to measure the tangible outcomes of welfare.

Finally, workfare can make life so much worse for people, for example, who have disabilities or are lone parents who have problems with meeting the demands placed on them to will ultimately receive penalties and sanctions that could lead to a complete withdrawal of benefits.

Additional research claims that the tough sanctions regime underpinning WfD (Work for the Dole) and other Australian labour market programmes may have a detrimental effect on labour market prospects. In 2000/01 alone, a total of 350,000 penalties were imposed that ‘counterproductively diminishe[d] many jobseekers prospects of finding employment’, with the burden falling disproportionately on young people and indigenous Australians.

What would be better for ordinary people facing unemployment is proper paid work within reasonable travelling time and with proper child care and training. A housebuilding programme, a energy saving programme, free universal childcare are things that ordinary people need doing. They could provide an enormous number of jobs.

All workfare ideas spring from right-wing theories that the reason people are unemployed is that it is too cushy. Workfare is about bullying people, stigmatising, vilifying and scapegoating the poor for the economic woes of society. It would not do of course to look into the role of the rich and powerful or the organisation of the economy in creating economic problems. Better to find groups who are relatively powerless: yes pick on the weak and hope that you are never faced with physical or mental disability or left with children and no way to earn a living.

And just a final final, why the hell aren’t the TUC condemning this outright because Workfare is an ideological attack on pay and conditions, ultimately workers’ rights by driving down wages overall something which the TUC should be organising around now!

What next ….Serco run workhouses?

Update: See as well post by Andrew Coates here.

Polly Toynbee is wrong yet again!

Toynbee is at it again, those damn students protesting against increased fees, how very dare they…. they are low, way low, down that pecking order. Now, it’s OK if you’re a hack for hire like the Toynbee but as she well knows many graduates will get average paid job while wedded to the financial injustice of having to pay off astronomical fees. Just what is so wrong with a free education, Toynbee?

Also, this is from a hack who argued for tactical voting at the election. Yes, Toynbee, and where did that get us…? Vote Clegg and get Cameron. And that’s what we got, thank-you-very-much for those unwise, and politically wrong, oh so wrong, words Toynbee.

In this article regarding the attacks on higher education, Toynbee indulges in classic divide and rule tactics. Her logic is that the other cuts are far far worse and that we should concentrate on those. Er no, wrong headed and politically inept….yet again… it’s about building unity with EVERYONE who are facing attacks and that includes students. You cannot pick and choose the cuts you want to fight against ‘cos we are all in this together. The approach we need is that if a group is prepared to stand up to the austerity drive they should receive the support. The only condition is that we all support each other so that the strong in struggle (perhaps yes those with better primary and secondary education) support those with less power.

I don’t think Toynbee understands the concept of unity and solidarity. Anyone who still thinks she’s left-leaning has serious illusions in this hack for hire. She seems to want to impose a hierarchy of worthiness of struggle: in her view you cannot struggle to protect yourself from dispossession unless there is nobody in even more despair than you. Mind you as a dyed in the wool Fabian Ms Toynbee does not see any struggle as valid: it is for the likes of her to decide who of the ordinary people will get what.

Demonstrate against these attacks on higher education Wednesday 10th November 2010.

Dedicated to Phil Woolas

Mr Philip James Woolas

Turned out to be an arse

Telling lies is wrong

And your politics had a strong pong

You are trying for a judicial review

The truth though Phil is that you are through

Citalopram all the rage

Apologies about the personal nature of this post…..skip it if you want.

It seems like Citalopram is all the rage, the new Prozac, and everyone seems to be on it. Well, my GP has increased mine. One GP raved on to me about the benefits of this particular drug, how it can reduce anxiety very quickly. This week has been one of those spiralling into an abyss increased by a sinus cold all culminating in feeling bad negative thoughts about harming myself. I can’t recall much of this week as it feels like my mind has blanked a lot of the pain and trauma. I really felt I was spiralling out of control, the past 18 months- 2 years have been good (ups and downs) but bereavement has taken its toll on me, which I still can’t believe. I feel I have no immune system as I seem to catch any cold going ’round and have had two lots of antibiotics within two months (first time in 14 years). The GP simply said my immune system has taken a massive knock therefore the reason why this sinus cold is taking up residence, the physical illness has really hold of me combined with the psychological lows, very bad lows. Hence the increase in medication (and crikey…the side-effects goes on and on…seemingly outweigh the benefits!) and one thing for the certain I have had a constant side splitting headache (side-effect….). I asked the GP whether it gets better and she said, ‘yes, but it takes time’….. along with being kind to myself…all echoed by my counsellor as well. Unfortunately, I am impatient and have recognised that makes things a whole lot worse.

So if anyone has taken Citalopram, did it help??

Solidarity with striking workers!

FBU picket line

Firstly, solidarity to RMT and TSSA members on strike today and tomorrow.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said:

“All we have been asking is that the London Mayor stick to the pledge he made during his election campaign, when he too recognised that people wanted to see stations staffed properly. The message is simple: suspend these cuts and we will suspend our action.

“Only last week Tube workers were commended by the inquest into the July 7 bombings for their selfless actions in rescuing victims, yet among them are the very grades that the mayor is now intent on cutting.

“Far from keeping his word, the Mayor now has more than 2,000 Tube jobs in his sights. He now has a choice. He can either be rembered for devastating Tube safety and the fabric of the network or he can work with us to defend it.”

TSSA general Secretary Gerry Doherty said:

“Boris has broken his word to Londoners on delivering a world class Tube in time for the Olympics in 20 months time.

“He has also broken his word on keeping full staffed ticket offices open. Instead of trying to impress the Tory shires with his anti trade union rhetoric, he should be sitting down with us to work out a fair solution to this dispute which no one wants.”

Secondly, solidarity to FBU members striking on Bonfire night. It’s shocking as well reading the vicious and violent tactics being used by scabs (see Madam Miaow’s post as well). There’s also been debates about the rights (Go Simon!) and wrongs (So wrong an article penned by David Allen Green) about FBU members taking strike action on 5th November.

I wholeheartedly support strike on 5th November. Why is it when workers take action against injustice, unfairness and attacks on pay and conditions they get vilified and demonised? Who started this ‘abuse of power’ (to use David Allen Green’s phrase)? The likes of Brian Coleman and Ron Dobson, they are the ones who have started this by threatening to terminate contracts.

This meant sacking all firefighters, and only re-engaging those who signed up to Mr Dobson’s requirements.

The bully boy tactics shown by management by trying to crush resistance and create a compliant workforce. Well, courageous FBU members have shown what they think of these tactics by striking. We should support striking workers taking a stand against management. And with the massive cuts to the public sector there will be an industrial fightback, expect to see more strikes are workers take a stand against these austerity measures expect to see more dirty tricks and lies peddled about strikes in the right-wing populist media as the heat builds up.

It also reminds me of someone (anti-union scab btw!) who said to me that she was “sick and tired of the likes of Bob Crow” bringing the transport system to its knees. My reply went….” So, it’s OK for capitalism to bring workers to their knees but once workers fight back through collective action they’re condemned. All power to the unions”!… I also recall me and another work colleague (union rep) walked out of the office as we couldn’t stomach listening to her anti-union rhetoric.

And the NUJ:  Journalists across the BBC walked out at midnight on Friday night, in the first of a series of 48 hours strikes in protest at plans to devalue their pensions  by imposing a new  ‘pay more – get less’ pensions scheme.

So…….Solidarity to FBU, RMT, NUJ and TSSA!

Viva resistance!

See Jon’s blog and Marsha-Jane’s as well.