Tory cuts could break our society

By Dave Prentis, General Secretary of Unison

Last week’s riots proved just how much we all rely on a well staffed and well trained police force, fire service, on paramedics, hospital workers, street sweepers, 999 call handlers, control room staff, and on many other public sector workers to provide care, support and an immediate response in emergencies.

There can be no excuse for the violence, looting and aggression that took place on the streets of our major cities last week. Those who lost their homes and businesses – everything they had, and the families of those who tragically lost their lives, all have the right to know that those responsible have been dealt with under the law.

And when we have made those who took part in the riots responsible for their actions, we, too, as a society have a responsibility to try to understand the wider social and economic problems that added fuel to the fires we saw on our streets. If we want to make sure that nobody has to suffer losing their belongings, or their business, or even their lives, this way again, we cannot fall into the trap of thinking that last week’s events are about criminality alone.

We know that many people are facing an uncertain future. Everywhere they look, the windows of opportunity are closing – avenues that would give the young and old a connection to the community they live in. Spending cuts have hit the jobs market, with 2.49 million people now out of work. Young people are badly affected – nearly one million under 25s are now unemployed. Public sector employment opportunities have evaporated, and spending cuts have a knock on impact on the private firms that depend on public sector contracts.

As private and public sector jobs dry up, so does consumer spending. All over the country, less money is going through local shops and businesses, pubs and hairdressers. As a direct result of the government’s economic policies, these private firms are no longer hiring, but firing – when there are already not enough jobs to go around.

Is it a coincidence that a UNISON survey, of the number of advertised jobs available per JSA claimant, showed Hackney at the top of the list – with a staggering 31 unemployed people chasing every job? Big cities, including London, where there was so much trouble last week, have the worst job prospects for local people.

As those hard hit young people struggle to find work, the services that used to help them find a job are being taken away. The Connexions service, that gave the under 25s targeted help to find work, is being torn apart. In Peckham, on the road opposite the site of a building burned down in the riots, is an empty Connexions office – just one of many that have been shut down nationwide. The skills of well-trained Connexions advisors are being wasted, as they, too, join the dole queues.

Opportunities for people to stay in education through the downturn are also dwindling. Many under 25s say they are priced out of a university education or out of further study, as the Educational Maintenance Allowance on which they depended to stay on at school, is being scrapped. Places at sixth form colleges are reducing due to funding cuts.

Wider support services are also shrinking; youth workers are losing their jobs in their droves, and youth centres are shutting their doors. Family support workers and early intervention social work services, that help families get things right before big problems develop, are being scrapped.

This government’s assault on fairness is just adding to the anger and frustration. As services that give people in disadvantaged communities a chance, like SureStart and libraries, shut down, the bankers who caused this crisis received £14 billion in bonuses last year. We already know that the cuts are hitting the poorest hardest, no wonder people feel like they have no stake in their own society. Forget Big Society it’s everyone for themselves in Cameron’s Britain.

Nobody can be fooled by the Prime Minister’s claim that huge police budget cuts are about making the service run better, not about saving money. The drastic cuts are a money saving exercise plain and simple – and will result in rising crime rates. Hundreds of police staff already know they will lose their jobs, and it is a waste of money for higher paid police officers to back fill their posts. Many police staff jobs were created to get officers out from behind their desks and back on the streets- making staff redundant is a huge backwards step.

Sacking PCSOs will also break a vital link with young people. By visiting schools and patrolling the streets, community support officers help break down the barriers between police and young people, and improve understanding of the real impact of crime. They also free up police officers’ time so they can get on with catching criminals.

The problems we face run deeply through all levels of our society – no one thing caused the riots that gripped our streets last week, and saw people from seemingly unremarkable backgrounds jumping on the looting bandwagon.

From the chronic low pay that forces parents to work long hours, leaving no time to spend with their families, to the lack of regulation that means bankers can earn more in one year’s worth of bonuses than a nurse can earn in a lifetime. The need for real role models who can help people aspire not to material possessions, nor to being a celebrity, but to achieving at school or at work, or in their community. Or the gang culture that young people find meaning in – and our need to understand the reasons they join and what we can do to show them there is another way.

Violence is never the answer – and we are only at the start of our search for real, long term, solutions. One thing is clear – breaking down the institutions that form the fabric of our society will not help to build bridges in our communities. Taking away support will not help people to stay out of trouble.

David Cameron talks about a slow motion moral collapse, but there has been nothing slow – or moral – about the Tories’ attack on public services. He may try to absolve the government of any responsibility for last week’s lawlessness, but this flawed analysis proves how far removed he is from the reality of life in Britain.

In cities and towns across the country, the Tories hard and fast cuts and damaging economic policies are making things much worse for people – young and old. They are drawing dividing lines between rich and poor, fuelling inequality – pushing people, and tearing communities, apart. Tory cuts could break our society. David Cameron must stop the cliché-ridden rhetoric and take a long, hard look at his government’s destructive policies.