10 reasons to fear the Tories…

12.10.09 - Rick Coyle

1.If you, your partner or family member work in the public sector, you have every right to be alarmed. Tory plans to slash worker pensions will mean that you won't just be worse off under the term of the next Tory government, you would be worse off for the rest of your life.

2.The legal right to join a Trade Union only came into British law in 1999. The same is true of the right to form new unions (union recognition) and the right to be represented in a grievance or disciplinary at work by your union – even in non-union firms. Cameron voted against all these decent laws, and is tight lipped on their future.

3.The Tories won't dare abolish Labour's minimum wage. But like the Republicans in America, when in government, they won't increase it. Under the Tories, the minimum wage will wither, and the very poorest working people will continue to get poorer.

4.Tory plans for party political funding are frightening. The Cameron plan is for wealthy individuals to be able to give £50,000 per year. Unions and other organisations would also be stuck on the same limit as individuals – so the result would be that all major political parties would be dominated by wealthy individuals. Scary stuff, and barely reported.

5.The Tories brag that they will end national pay bargaining in the education system. They want every head teacher to decide pay levels for their teachers. In every school this will create a massive distraction from the business of educating our children. Strife and confrontation is inevitable. Parents and Teachers are right to be worried that this approach will be detrimental to the education of our children.

6.The Tories are thrilled about the recession. It has given them the political excuse they need to move towards their ideological aim of “smaller government”, i.e cut public services. Cuts in recession cause depression – an historical fact. The Tories are prepared to risk a depression to meet their ideological zeal to reduce the size of the public sector. The fact that the private sector has just failed....spectacularly – is lost on them.

7.One of the big beneficiaries of the inheritance tax cuts they promise would be the Camerons themselves. Imagine the newspapers if Labour introduced a law that netted Gordon Brown's wife a fortune !

8.Most of the Shadow Cabinet went to the same school together.

9.Tories want us to trust them run our schools and our hospitals. But the overwhelming majority of Tory politicians send their kids to private schools and barely use the NHS! It's common-sense to have people in charge of public services who actually use them.

10.The Tories are RIGHT to say Britain is in a mess. Casino capitalism is to blame. The worst Casino Capitalists – the ones that brought down Halifax / Bank of Scotland, are the same “Hedge Fund Managers” that are members of Cameron's exclusive “diners club” and are the Tories biggest donors. Yes Labour should have done more to properly regulate the capitalist spivs and speculators. But only a centre-left, Social Democratic vision can rebuild Britain and prevent this mess from happening again. That will require a Labour Party that is in tune with it's traditional values. But to turn to the Tories now – the very same people who went to posh schools with the big bonus City Bankers – would be to reward the villains of the recession.

Free-market Tories are part of the credit crunch problem – they are not the solution.

Britain is sleepwalking towards a Tory Government – WAKE UP !!