UN Report Compares Tory Welfare Policies to Creation of Workhouses

THE GUARDIAN: Ministers in denial about impact of austerity since 2010, says poverty expert

A leading United Nations poverty expert has compared Conservative welfare policies to the creation of 19th-century workhouses and warned that unless austerity is ended, the UK’s poorest people face lives that are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.

In his final report on the impact of austerity on human rights in the UK, Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, accused ministers of being in a state of denial about the impact of policies, including the rollout of universal credit, since 2010. He accused them of the “systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population” and warned that worse could be yet to come for the most vulnerable, who face “a major adverse impact” if Brexit proceeds. He said leaving the EU was “a tragic distraction from the social and economic policies shaping a Britain that it’s hard to believe any political parties really want”. » | Robert Booth, Social affairs correspondent | Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Großbritannien: Theresa May schwächelt - Pfund fällt

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Die Parlamentswahl in Großbritannien könnte knapper ausgehen als erwartet. Kein gutes Vorzeichen für die Brexit-Verhandlungen.

Die Frau in der Londoner Downing Street wankt und macht damit die Devisenhändler im Bankenviertel der britischen Hauptstadt nervös. Knapp zwei Wochen vor den Parlamentswahlen auf der Insel zeichnet sich ein sehr viel knapperer Wahlausgang ab als noch vor kurzem angenommen – was wiederum die bevorstehenden Brexit-Verhandlungen zwischen London und Brüssel erschweren könnte. Analysten der japanischen Großbank Nomura spekulierten am Freitag sogar über die Möglichkeit, dass die britische Premierministerin Theresa May bei dem Urnengang am 8. Juni abgewählt werden könnte, was bisher als ziemlich ausgeschlossen galt. » | Marcus Theurer, London | Freitag, 26. Mai 2017

Vince Cable Calls Sacking Plans In Beecroft Report 'The Wrong Approach'

BBC: Business Secretary Vince Cable has condemned proposals to make it easier for firms to sack under-performing staff as "the wrong approach".

A report commissioned by the prime minister is also expected to call for shorter periods of consultation over compulsory redundancies.

But Mr Cable told the BBC it was not the job of government to "scare the wits" out of people.

Many Tory MPs back the plans as a means to boost the UK's businesses.

The economy re-entered recession in the first quarter of this year and the coalition government is looking for ways to encourage growth.

The report, which is expected to be published later this week, was compiled by Conservative-supporting venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft.

Its proposals are expected to include:

• An end to a mandatory 90-day consultation period when a company is considering redundancy programmes. Instead it will suggest a standard 30-day period and an emergency five-day period if a firm is in severe distress

• A cap on loss-of-earnings compensation for employees who make successful unfair dismissal claims

• Reform of the rights that workers are allowed to "carry" to new employers when their companies are the subject of a takeover

• Scrapping provisions in the Equality Act which make employers liable for claims from employees for "third-party harassment", such as customers making "sexist" comments to staff in a restaurant

• Shifting responsibility for checking foreign workers' eligibility to work in the UK from employers to the Border Agency or the Home Office

The study follows David Cameron's call for British industry to be freed from "red tape", with labour markets altered to encourage greater investment and fluidity among workers. » | Monday, May 21, 2012

THE SUN: Cable blasts Tory zealots: He attacks plan to axe workers’ rights » | Tom Newton Dunn | Monday, May 21, 2012

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Coalition split over employment reforms as Vince Cable dismisses Beecroft Report as 'complete nonsense': Plans to cut employment red tape by stripping labour rights and making it easier for firms to sack under-performing staff have been blasted as "complete nonsense" by Business Secretary Vince Cable. » | Robert Winnett and Christopher Hope | Monday, May 21, 2012

THE GUARDIAN: Scrapping unfair dismissal would affect us all: Where's the evidence that current employment law rules have a negative impact on British business? » | Anya Palmer | Wednesday, October 26, 2011

My comment:

I agree with Vince Cable 100%. It would be utterly ridiculous to get rid of workers' rights like this. Don't forget, the people at the top will continue to get their rights, and multi-million pound bonuses.

This benighted Tory administration will return us to the Victorian model very quickly. The people in the cabinet haven't a care in the world – they're all multi-millionaires. What do they care about workers' rights?

What the Tories want is slave labour for the captains of industry to continue to line their own pockets at the expense of cheap workers. At this rate, we'll soon be returning to child labour, we'll soon be sending children down the coalface to bring up the coal.

In one word: disgusting! More power to Dr. Vince Cable! – © Mark

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