Cllr Matthew Snedker, Coordinator of Darlington Green Party said:
The government’s own figures highlight the plight of far too many children growing up in poverty. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities scores Darlington on 30 measures against the national average.
Of those 30 measures, which cover a wide range of indicators, Darlington is below the national average 22 times. Not one of these measures of quality of life is improving.
From infant mortality to obesity, hospital admissions for injuries to self-harm and mental health conditions, the children and young people of Darlington are suffering long-term harm caused by the growing inequality and rising poverty directly caused by over a decade of austerity policies brought forward by the Conservative government.
The proportion of children growing up in low-income families continues to grow, and the proportion of children starting life in absolute poverty is also on the rise. More than one in four children will have to endure the blight and scaring effects of a poor start in life.
What many people find particularly disgusting, is that this is happening in the seventh richest country on the planet.
A country where average take home pay has stagnated for a decade, where inflation has steadily chipped away and eroded most people’s spending, stripping the joy and hope from their lives.
While the number of people living in poverty has grown, the amount of help and support offered to them (measured as a percentage of government spending) has fallen. For the last eleven years, the proportion of spending directed their health and education has averaged 20%. In the previous eleven years that figure was 27%. A decision was made to reduce support and to weaken the safety net provided to catch those most in need.
But what of the wealthiest people in the UK?
Between 2010 and today, the richest sector of our country, the billionaires, have seen their wealth balloon from £200 billion to £653 billion.
Our country does not have a problem generating wealth, it has a problem making sure that everyone gets a fair share of that wealth.
We now know that our millionaire Prime Minister pays an effective tax rate of 22%, lower than many nurses and teachers.
The effective tax rate (or withdrawal rate) for someone on the lowest of incomes, claiming universal credit starts at 55% and rises as high as 70%.
The policies implemented by successive Conservative governments over the last 12 years have been persistent as they have been cruel.
They have pushed more and more families into relative and absolute poverty.
The support for people struggling has been reduced.
The freedom for the richest to accumulate an ever greater proportion of the nation’s wealth has been increased.
We need a government that is committed and brave enough to implement progressive tax changes to ensure that will solve the current economic crisis, tackle the UK’s low productivity problem and restore our crumbling public services.
A Green Government would; Apply a wealth tax on unearned wealth over £10 million, Equalise capital gains with income tax, Apply national insurance to investment income, End inheritance tax loopholes, Reform the rules on non-dom status, introduce a tax on corporate share buyback schemes.
Taken together these measures would raise £50 billion per year that would be invested in; Supporting a public sector pay settlement of 7% to support staff retention in our NHS, Insulating people’s homes to lift people out of fuel poverty, Capping bus fares at £1 to lift people out of transport poverty, Extend free early years nursery provision to lift people out of childcare poverty.
If we are to avoid another decade of rising inequality, deepening poverty and lost opportunities, we need to print forward a range of bold and transformative policies, both nationally and locally.
By voting for Green Party candidates on 4th May voters can show this Conservative government that their time in charge is coming to an end and the public are no longer willing to put up with their cruel and damaging policies.