Much fanfare proceeded the burning of the quangos, but now it looks like the £1b of so-called 'savings' have gone up in a puff of smoke. Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, chair of the cross-party committee, said: "The whole process was rushed and poorly handled and should have been thought through a lot more." The effects of axing education quangos, such as almost 1,000 jobs lost in Coventry from Becta and QCDA are being felt by those who lost their jobs and schools will not save money. This coalition government has repeatedly failed to listen or take heed of warnings.
The police have issued warnings about the dangers of cutting their budgets, not because they want to keep their jobs but because they know the effects of the Comprehensive Spending Review will lead to an increase in crime. As poverty increases, more people will resort to a life of crime and reduced police numbers will only exasperate the situation. The last time the Tories were in power, Thatcher cut public services and police numbers fell - while crime increased under her leadership. The ConDem coalition will end up with the same result if the people of Britain don't fight back.
We all hate waste and quangos that flutter away our money, should indeed be exposed and call to account. Yet the bonfire of quangos has become nothing more than a puff of smoke - the promised £1b 'savings' will not take place and unsurprisingly, more quangos will be created to replace those burned out quangos.
Meanwhile, for the banks it is business as usual with big bonuses continuing to be paid out in 2010/11. Even though Liberal Democrate Vince Cable indicated he would take action against the banks that continued to award big bonuses for failure. Once again the opposite has been true and the coalition have taken no action, instead banks have seen many salaries rise significantly, by up to 40% in some cases. The highlights above are just a few examples of the failure that this capitalist government seeks to pursue it's ideological goals at the expense of the working class.
We need a workers party that will defend the working class in word and in deed, may 2011 be the year that workers unite and fight to gain control of our lives and society!
