Tag Archives: austerity

Editorial in the Socialist issue 1197 Faced with the chronically sick, deteriorating British economy, the Tories in government have swung from one path of crisis to another. Having failed over and over again to come up with policies that could improve the health of the capitalist system they represent, today they can barely think ahead beyond their chance of winning ...

By a Cymru/Wales Unison Local Government member Many trade unions have been and will be taking industrial action in the near future, however based on the outcome of the pay consultation ballot announced this week it does not appear likely that Unison Local Government Workers will be joining them on masse this year. The vote in Wales was 66% to ...

By Joe Fathallah, TUSC candidate for Grangetown I’m standing as a candidate in the Cardiff Council elections on May 5th, in Grangetown ward, for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. Grangetown has 44% of children growing up in poverty, and this is in no small part due to the actions of the council in passing on vicious cuts to our ...

By Sam Cartwright, Wrexham On the 6th of March Ian Stevenson (86) was walking to his home in Johnstown, Wrexham when he was struck by a passing car. According to the family, the first call to the emergency services was made at 19:31 pm, but the ambulance did not arrive for another four hours leaving Mr. Stevenson on the ground in ...

By Taryn Tarrant-Cornish The resounding mood of the speakers at the Cardiff People’s Budget echoed the opening words of the Trade’s Council’s Secretary, Dave Bartlett, who warned the city’s council; “We want it back.” Over 40 people participated in the Cardiff People’s Budget called by Cardiff Trade Union Council. Speaker after speaker spoke movingly about their personal experiences outlining the ...

Gas and electric bills set to soar by 50% this year By Jaime Davies While millions will have to choose between heating or eating, the big energy companies are laughing all the way to the bank. BP and Shell are making £900 a second in profit! Every six months, the energy regulator Ofgem reviews what the maximum amount should be ...

By Dave Warren,  Treasurer, Swansea Trades Council Swansea Trades Council held an open conference on 26 January to discuss Swansea council’s budget proposals for 2022-23 and the medium-term plan for the next three years. As well as the trade union delegates, the meeting was attended by young people from Swansea Young Socialists and Swansea Youth Strike 4 Climate. Guest speaker ...

By Hannah Sell, Socialist Party General Secretary “One more strike and he’s out”, declared longstanding Tory MP Roger Gale in the wake of the kicking his party got from voters in the Shropshire North by election, previously held by the Tories for almost two centuries. Gale meant that Johnson is in the last chance saloon with the Tory backbenches, but ...

By Dave Reid Welsh Labour and Plaid have reached an agreement that will give the Welsh Labour government led by Mark Drakeford a working majority. Labour won 30 out of the 60 Senedd seats in the election earlier this year, not enough for a controlling majority, and so has had to reach an agreement with Plaid which has 13 seats. ...

By Sarah Sachs-Eldridge ‘Rape has been decriminalised’. This was a 2019 assessment of a situation where just 1.6% of rapes result in someone being charged. Each year around 128,000 people are victims of rape but only just over 2,000 charges are made. This was a factor in the outpouring of anger that followed the killing of Sarah Everard in March ...