Massive increase in public debt under Tories shows Austerity was about hurting the poor, not balancing the books

The evidence is mounting up, and it says: Austerity was about making the rich richer and the poor poorer – and never about settling the UK’s debt.

Why else would successive Conservative governments have inflicted devastating cuts on government programmes that help the poor, while cutting taxes that affect primarily the rich at the same time?

The Conservatives have been labelled con artists after running up mountains of debt in spite of austerity cuts at the same time as the rich significantly increase their wealth.

Since the recession Britain’s wealthiest have seen their net worth more than double while poverty has gripped the nation elsewhere.

Food bank use has reached the highest rate on record as austerity-induced benefit cuts fail to cover basic costs. According to Shelter the number of ‘homeless but working’ families has risen by 73 per cent , with the poorest 30 per cent of UK households worse off by £50 to £150 last year.

When George Osborne and David Cameron came to power in 2010 they claimed austerity would save the country from disaster. They said its predecessor Labour government was living “beyond its means” and left the nation with a rising mountain of public debt.

But eight years on and public sector net debt, adjusted for inflation, has risen by 53 per cent under consecutive Tory governments. What’s more, the government has recovered all but five per cent of the £1.2 trillion bailout provided to the banks during the credit crunch and recession according to the latest figures – but they continue to impose crippling austerity cuts regardless.

As author Marcus Chown wrote on Twitter, “the Tories said austerity was to pay down UK debt. It’s almost tripled. They said we’re all in this together. The rich have doubled wealth.

“Do you think we’ve been conned?”

Source: Tories have run up debt in spite of austerity cuts while the rich have doubled their wealth

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10 thoughts on “Massive increase in public debt under Tories shows Austerity was about hurting the poor, not balancing the books

  1. Jeffrey davies

    It was the banksters who caused this they the rich keep the banks working with their wealth thus they lost billions in the dishonesty of the banksters fraud yet we the peasants had to pay this back how quaint is that

  2. Julia Peculiar

    I’d wager they believe what they are doing is helping people, encouraging to work harder and according to their unhealthy work ethic. Thatcher thought she had the right approach too. They are detached from being human, from empathy. That old British stiff upper lip is alive and kicking still. We only have to see the rises in depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol addiction to see how unhealthy this country is. The tories are the sickness we need a cure for not the poor in money.

  3. citizenbrian

    The debt has been rising since 1974 by my reckoning, all parties have some blame attached.
    I wrote to Blair when he was in power, to tell him some workers where already being swapped out for untrained cheap migrants, he said it was called business and I’d best get used to it, I haven’t.
    All parties are tainted, the whole voting malarkey is corrupt and full of people you wouldn’t vote for if you had a choice, it’s time for a reboot, maybe a bus load of really cheap untrained politicians could take their place, see how they like it.
    The deceit shown by all, regarding the EEC and the EU since the 60’s and up to the present day is treasonous to say the least. The whole lot of them are as two faced as can be.
    A new box at the bottom of all voting forms, with “None of the above” written beside it needs implementing rapidly if we are ever going to change anything as the persons on the vote form are there with their permission and not for your benefit, the person you probably would have voted for won’t be in the list, or we can have a revolution, which I’ve been waiting for since January 1973.
    .

  4. Dick

    OK just putting this out there for discussion. We were told to stop wasting energy, less car journeys, turn off lights you are not using, recycle stuff etc. En masse, we didn’t! So as a population we ignored our governments advice. What are those who are in charge supposed to do? Clearly we are not going to co-operate willingly, so how do you reduce fossil fuel use, and thus avoid global environmental catastrophe? If we were not going to play ball voluntarily, the only thing to do is take the ball away. How do you do that in this context? Well, if you have to reduce fossil fuel use you have to reduce consumer demand. You do that by giving people less money to spend. Are the ‘banksters’ the bad guys or just the instrument by which you attempt to resolve the problem, Discuss.

    1. Mike Sivier Post author

      Who says we didn’t do all those things you say we were advised to do? I do them all habitually.

      1. Dick

        Recycling; 2000/1, 12% of municipal waste recycled (source; FotE). 2016/17 (latest I can find) 42% (source; DEFRA) EU target for UK is 50%.
        The practice of leaving domestic devices plugged into active energy ports is well documented, as is the practice of continuing to light ones home when it is vacant for an evening. With a rising population and increasing variety of domestic appliances available it’s no surprise that this is leading to energy waste.
        Obviously, if you have figures to the contrary I’d be pleased to see them.

    2. Dez

      Dick. All of those Government waste advisories I, and many others, have been doing well before the Government decided to wake up. What narks me is how the Cons jump on the band wagon with allowing excessive price hikes to all the essentials of life so that they can enjoy a nice little increase in their tax earnings from these same price hikes. Just the combined price and tax increases alone did the business in cutting back consumption and depleting ones income far more than screwing the little guys further by attacking their benefits and aid. The city suits who gambled and lost were the root cause of the massive debt having to bail these Hooray Henrys out of trouble. The Cons debt and infrastructure collapse made Labours legacy look like a petty cash discrepancy yet the Cons still harp on about it …..whilst always forgetting to mention the current Con mess and debt mountain.

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