NEWS that Oxfam intends to embark on a programme of poverty relief in Britain underlines the extent to which the Tories have already devastated the welfare state.
The charity, best-known for its moving appeals to tackle starvation the 'Third World', points to the vast and widening gulf between the wealthiest ten percent of the British population, whose incomes have risen an average of 62 percent since 1979, and the poorest ten percent, who are a massive 17 percent worse off.
Eleven million people now live below a poverty line defined as half the average income, compared with just three million in 1977.
Pensioners
The biggest single group in poverty is old-age pensioners, whose basic state pension has been cut in half in comparison with average earnings.
But the other key factor is the massive level of unemployment; dole payments have also been slashed back to less than half their 1979 value, while ever greater numbers of jobless workers find themselves denied payments.
Scrapped
There is worse to come, following Kenneth Clarke's decision in the last budget to scrap unemployment benefit and instead launch a new, restrictive 'Jobseekers Allowance', which will pay for only six months inRank and file coordination to save the Welfare State stead of twelve.
Social security has also been brutally squeezed, with the axing of special needs payments and their replacement with loans from a cash-limited Social Fund, and now the scrapping of invalidity benefits, to be replaced by even more limited new benefits.
Crackdown
The misery of the millions forced to claim these benefits will be intensified by the vicious tactics of Social Security chief Peter Lilley and Employment Secretary Michael Portillo, who have mounted a combined offensive against benefit fraud.
The latest figures already show a sharp increase in prosecutions of claimants and cheapskate employers seeking to exploit the social security system, but behind the scenes there has been a big increase in the harassment of innocent claimants. Meanwhile an estimated £2 billion a year remains unclaimed by people entitled to benefits.
Vicious new restrictions on council provision of accommodation to the homeless are also in the pipeline following a government announcement in July.
12 month limit Only temporary accommodation will be available, for a maximum of 12 months, and the onus will be placed on the applicant to prove that he or she became homeless unintentionally.
As the numbers caught up in the Tory onslaught continues to rise, the need for a broad-based, high-profile campaign to defend the welfare state grows in importance.
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