Chancellor's further £4bn benefits cuts 'ruthless and reckless'

GLC believes that the announcement today of an extra £4bn of social security cuts by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in addition to the £11bn of benefit cuts announced in June, is ruthless and reckless behaviour by the UK Coalition Government to vulnerable citizens.  Describing unemployment as a 'life-style choice', as Mr Osborne has chosen to do, is the classic language of scapegoating, and GLC believes that such an approach is particulary unhelpful when the future of 10,000 shipbuilding and related jobs in Govan, Rosyth and wider Scotland have been threatened by the UK Government's uncertainty over the construction of the Royal Navy's carrier programme.

GLC fully supports the 'Better Way' campaign led by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).  The STUC's position is that there is an economic crisis in the UK – a crisis of high unemployment and stagnant growth; and not, as the Government insists, a crisis of the public finances. The Better Way campaign argues that the UK Government has systematically distorted and exaggerated problems with the public finances.

The STUC argues that the UK was never in danger of becoming the next Greece. The rising deficit reflected the collapse in tax revenues and rising cost of unemployment benefits during the recession. It was not caused by out of control public spending. History does not support the Government's assertion that cuts will be good for growth and jobs. But history does support the STUC’s belief that deep and premature cuts will lead to persistently high unemployment. There is a Better Way! (visit the site to find out more).