The Tories’ new toxicity gives Labour a chance to do the decent thing on welfare

The abandonment of some of the most regressive policies of the Conservative manifesto in the Queen’s Speech — foxhunting, grammar schools, the dementia tax, the end of the triple-lock and winter fuel payments — was a testament to both Labour’s success and Theresa May’s now unshakable weakness. Her brand of Toryism, which brought with it the nastier aspects of the Conservative Party of old, is dead.

But Mayism’s passing does not guarantee she will even be able to deliver the watered-down versions of those policies. This election was a mass rejection of austerity and the cuts and race-to-the-bottom policies that have had a disastrous impact on our public services, particularly police and social housing, as the past four torrid weeks have proved.

And yet, despite May pledging equality on the doorstep of No 10 both before and after the election, and scrapping these recently pledged cuts to pensions and other benefits, it would be a mistake to sit back and expect austerity’s most pernicious policies to crumble with her.

Tory ministers still reared their weary heads on television after the election to say we must remain ‘within our means’ – a euphemism so blinding and patronising now, especially in light of recent events, that it is clear it no longer has the effect on voters that it did in 2015. And yet the austerity politics of David Cameron and George Osborne limps onwards. There are no commitments to reverse welfare cuts already in place, and so there must be a commitment from us to continue to fight that corner with all we have.

With no majority, no mandate, and partnered with a party that has in the past degraded the bedroom tax, there is a clear chance now to reverse the fortunes of the many millions who suffer at the hands of Osbornomics.

Last week, the High Court announced that the welfare cap — which has left many homeless and thousands struggling or having to move — is in fact unlawful. Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the ruling, and it must not be forgotten.

This ruling, and the lack of a government majority, mean we must now launch an offensive on pernicious cuts to welfare as part of our wider message on austerity.

The Conservatives are already sliding back to toxicity, as can be seen by their shocking reactions to recent tragedies and their continued dismissal of Labour’s now popular anti-austerity message as nothing more than the typical mindset of a tax-and-spend bogeyman. They have not learned from their mistakes, whereby their disastrous manifesto offered only bleakness and misery, failing to inspire younger generations while threatening to destroy their core base among the over-65s.

The moment is with us. We should no longer fear the attacks of 2015. We should no longer be too cautious to stand up and say welfare cuts under this government have been as disastrous and damning as public service cuts elsewhere. Both serve a vital social purpose. It is the moment to defend the state as a provider. The welfare of the people requires a security net and that includes pensions as well as working-age benefits.

We have the chance now to ensure these policies, regarded not long ago as common sense, become so controversial that a weakened minoirty government must rid itself of them or face defeat in the Commons. We can seek the repeal of the bedroom tax, and of the welfare cap.

Labour’s agenda over the coming weeks, the amendments we draft to the Queen’s Speech, and what we shall vote down, should prioritise defeating Cameron and Osborne’s politics as much as May’s. We can defeat welfare cuts now and make a difference to the lives of millions of our most vulnerable citizens.

Jade Azim is the co-editor of Open Labour