We must repersonalise the debate on cuts

By Jonathan Roberts / @robertsjonathan

I’ll start by telling a story.

The story is true – but you’ll have to forgive me for not naming names or identifying locations, in part because those involved are close to me, but moreover because this story could be replicated many times across the country, and could well be any single one of the millions of people suffering economic hardship.

There is a council worker, earning comfortably below the average wage but working substantially longer than her contracted 37 hours per week. She has spent her life as a servant of the public, not as the holder of a much-maligned ‘non job’, but as someone who does valuable work to give purpose to the lives of the most vulnerable.

For many years she has taken care of adults with severe learning difficulties. Her work does not merely involve keeping them washed and fed. It is far more valuable than that. She teaches the handicapped how to paint, how to create greetings cards, how to pot plants and how to keep financial records. The product of their work is sold in charity shops and craft fairs. The participants are paid a wage from the profits, they have to be at work at 9 on the dot, and show energy and commitment to their careers. This woman is not just a carer, she inspires and motivates people, she gives them skill, hope and aspiration. She gives them a life worth living.

Or at least she did. The council that employs her has made her redundant. In doing so, and in a move reminiscent of the pit closures of the 1980s, they have offered her no real alternative or retraining. And much worse, the handicapped adults who rely on her support have been consigned to the dustbin too. Some will be returned to their families, who themselves will have to give up work to care for them. Others will be sent to a care home to watch the television.

The lost potential of the vulnerable.

The decision has been made because the council cannot afford the meagre salaries of the programme’s tiny workforce – decision signed off by a Chief Executive who earns 10 times their salary.

This story is not unique. There are many thousands of others who will have a similar story to tell. But as yet they have no real way of telling it.

Sure, they can go on marches. Sure they can have their trade unions stand up and fight for them. But when we start talking in huge figures, millions of people, the personal stories begin to be lost and the debate becomes about numbers. Politics has become so impersonal, real people hidden behind a series of percentages and decimal points.

So here is the opportunity for Labour. We must repersonalise the debate on cuts, the economy and welfare reforms. We must tell the story of individuals. The dad. The mum. The child. Real people with real stories. And with each example we use – Mrs Bloggs from Brighton, Mr Jones from Yorkshire – the hundreds of thousands of people facing similar fates will recognise the story, see its similarity to their own lives, and see the leader of the Labour Party sticking up for people just like them.

Let’s remind the government, and let’s remind ourselves, that ‘millions of people’ is not a statistic, or simply an impressive sounding number, it is a figure representing real people’s lives. If Labour doesn’t tell their story, no one will. So let’s tell it. Again, again and again.