A new kind of politics is coming our way

Now that it is possible not to go to work, because social security will support you, and it is remarkably easy to get, there are people who have decided not to work. Obviously, there are people who can’t work due to some affliction but there are also hundreds of thousands who have chosen not to work.  

They have dropped out of society in many ways and are prepared to live off the limited support given by state aid. How ever mean that existence is, it seems it is preferred to getting up in the morning and trundling off to a job.  

Many of the jobs on offer are tiring and unrewarding and low paid. So if a state offers an easily accessible alternative, why not take it? Hence the vast sums of taxpayers’ money used to support people who, in a more stringent period, would have had to fill these posts.  

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Just after Christmas I commented on the early morning London underground train I took. And how all of the tired workers up at 5.30am were from some place other than the UK. My comment was aimed at Reform UK, as they are intent on raising a large question mark over the presence of so many immigrants living here.

I was trying to counter this argument by asking how can you get the indigenous British doing these poorly paid early-morning jobs?  

If it were not for the influx of people from other countries and continents our cities and towns would grind to a halt. Our hospitals, hotels, transportation systems, our street cleansing would cease if it were not for the very immigrants that keep our society turning over.  

Talking, though, to a Reform supporter who formerly was a Labour supporter, I was told that there is no grief at those who work and contribute, irrespective of where they come from. That Reform will empty social security recipients from their non-contributing positions in society and they will have to take those low-paid, early-morning jobs. Or whatever job is needed. The ‘kind days’ will thus be over and work will be found for those who are able to work.  

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Up until Margaret Thatcher’s regime – 1979 to 1990 – it was a hard job getting social security. Or certainly it was harder, with more strings attached than it is now. But with the great shakeout witnessed by Thatcher’s closing down of much of industrial Britain, social security became a must for many.

The jobs to replace mines, steelworks, ship building, heavy engineering and docks did not arrive to give redundant workers employment. The state, once the supplier of subsidies keeping unprofitable industries operating, became the direct provider of income to the many.  

Incidentally, it would have been cheaper and less socially destructive if Thatcherism had kept people in work while a mammoth effort of investment in new jobs and new industries was begun. But alas, the enormous disruption and undermining of communities by removing support from what government called ‘lame duck industries’ was not foreseen. Or if it was, it did not influence Thatcher’s decision-making.  

Governments since then have relaxed the receipt of social security – though the Tory government after 2010 brought in universal credit (UC), which slowed down receipt of social security and caused havoc for many by forcing them to wait many weeks for payments. Hence UC remains a mixed bag.  

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, many people, when asked, say they would rather work. But in a job that is not low paid and a dead end. That is not boring and soul destroying. Expectations it would suggest have risen since the days when I was a boy or young man and you took the soul-destroying job as there was no alternative. Back then, getting social security was like pulling teeth.  

So many pundits are suggesting that Reform may well rule us after the next general election. That we might be going back to a kind of Thatcherism, but this time it won’t produce a vast social security budget. A shakeout of those able but not working is on the horizon. Boats will be stopped, our liberal democracy punctured, and a kind of Trumpian dystopia imposed.  

There is a new politics coming our way for certain, that is influenced by external military threats and Reform’s rise. Even the Epstein files seem to be slowly ungluing the establishment that has so long operated beyond public scrutiny. Frightening people into believing that international conspiracies are everywhere. And therefore eroding trust in our institutions.  

And at the same time the government seems unable to offer the kind of leadership that people expect. The majority voted for Starmer’s leadership, yet now it seems weak and indecisive. This adds to Reform’s ability to seem to rise. So in some ways you could say the campaign for the next election has already begun.  

Fingers need pulling out; strong leadership and a belief in a better politics needs to be cultivated. Changes need to be made to our insipid response to poverty, the great corroder of society and, among other things, the NHS returned to some kind of rude health.  

Whatever is coming, our current political leadership probably needs breathing space to get back on its feet. A generosity of spirit needs to be encouraged; for there is much that many of us would not like if the devil we know is replaced by the devil we don’t. A new kind of politics is coming our way.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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