Thursday, August 26, 2010

Britain's Tories exposed

The right wing coalition that now governs in Britain (the equivalent of an Abbott led coalition in Australia) has it's economic plans exposed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which revealed Chancellor George Osborne's emergency Budget will hammer the poorest families, especially those with children.

An IFS study has revealed that Mr Osborne's tax and benefit changes between June 2010 and April 2014 will see the poorest 10 per cent of families out of pocket by £422.83 per household.

This compares to the second-richest 10 per cent of families who would only find themselves £339.12 worse off, it added.

It also questioned Mr Osborne's decision to change the way benefits are increased annually - from the consumer prices index to the retail prices index - which would lead to "less generous benefits" in the coming year.

Public-sector union Unison vowed to step up its campaign to protect vital services against government cuts in the wake of the latest research and accused the coalition of declaring war on public services and its workers.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "There is no compassion in this coalition. The Chancellor's claims that his Budget was fair and progressive have been blown out of the water.

"It is a disgrace that children from low-income families are the ones paying the price for this bankers' recession."

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