Former Councillor Bernard Little recently spoke in a rally organised by the NEU outside the Town Hall, calling for an end to the two-child benefit cap.
Here is the speech in full.
So my name is Bernard Little. I was, until recently, a Green councillor for Walkley and Upperthorpe. I’ve retired through ill health. Tackling inequality is one of the main political objectives of the Green Party.
We all know what a scam looks like. But does our new chancellor, Rachel Reeves? Her claim that the 20 billion hole in public finances it creates is a surprise, is absurd. Utterly absurd!
To claim that she only just had sight of the figures that are prepared by the Department of Budget Responsibility every year for the last 40 years is not believable. What the hell was Labour doing when it was in opposition? Was it not scrutinizing what was going on, where the money was going?
Obviously, no, I knew about it. But I’m just an ordinary bloke. And now we have the Labour Party saying it can’t afford to scrap the Two Child Benefit Cap.
As was said earlier, we are the sixth richest country in the world. Our country has £15 trillion, over £15 trillion in wealth, in the hands of the very richest. We cannot put up with this. It’s outrageous. Yet, our compliant media, government, and big finance are giving away their pretence of having a moral compass. They no longer question what’s going on. So how could a government pay for decent public services, tackle inequality, and face head-on the climate and nature emergency?
So I’m going to quote from a report called the Taxing Wealth Report, produced by accountancy Professor Richard Murphy of Sheffield University. It’s called the Taxing Wealth Report and is highly recommended. It was produced before the General Election in the run-up to the General Election to challenge politicians, to say this is how we can have better public services. Up to £30 billion a year could be cancelled in terms of interest payments to the Bank of England.
The net benefit of that change would be over 20 billion a year, £20 billion. Would that make a difference? Of course, it would. If would end child poverty and the Two Child Benefit Cap. It will allow us to pay the whole of the backlog of pay due to junior doctors and restore their confidence in the National Health Service. So those doctors do not leave this country to go to Canada, Australia, or elsewhere.
It would allow us to pay for the special education needs of every young person at school, primary or secondary, across the whole of the UK. It would end the Bedroom Tax. It would restore most of the payments due to those with disabilities. These were lost during the period of the Tory government. It could restore the services provided by local government.
Having been a councillor, I have fought for the last three years to try and get decent public services for people in my ward, and it was very, very difficult to explain to people why on earth this was happening. £20 billion is a lot of money. It would mean a real change to the way our economy is run and our services are supplied. And right now it’s all going to the banks and it makes no sense at all.
Should they, and the most wealthy be enriched at the cost to the people of this country who need government services. Services that enable people to enjoy a full life as part of their community.
I’m a member of the Green Party, we don’t think so. Do you?
Thank you.
