In this coming
week’s Cornish Guardian, my column will note the 70th anniversary of the
Beveridge Report and contrast it to the actions being perpetrated by the
Coalition Government. Here’s the preview:
December 2012
marks the seventieth anniversary of the Beveridge Report. Produced during the
Second World War, this document sought to tackle what it described as the “five
giant evils” of “idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor and want.” Beveridge
himself said that they were operating within a "revolutionary moment” in the history of the world and
that it was a “time for revolutions, not for patching.”
The
recommendations of the Report were truly far-reaching, and the
Ministry of Information stated that it had been “welcomed with almost universal
approval by people of all shades of opinion and by all sections of the
community” and that it was seen as “the first real attempt to put into practice
the talk about a new world.”
The Beveridge Report led to real societal change, including the creation of the National
Health Service and the welfare state. Indeed, there was a whole raft
of post-war legislation which
covered areas such as national insurance, family allowances, pensions, housing
and rent control.
Seven decades
on, we should be celebrating how the work of Beveridge and his colleagues
benefited millions and millions of families.
But I am fearful
of how the policies of this present government are undermining the traditional fairness
that has been at the core of British society for so long, much of which
emanated from the reforms of the late 1940s.
We have had the
Health and Social Care Bill, which has privatised great tracts of the NHS,
ignoring unprecedented levels of opposition from nurses, doctors and ordinary
people.
We have received
report after report demonstrating that government policies are impacting most
on the less-well-off and the vulnerable.
And only days
ago, 59 charities and other organisations (including Oxfam, Barnardos, the
Children's Society and the Child Poverty Action Group) joined together to
condemn attacks on the welfare budget.
Describing the government’s
approach as “punitive and unfair,” they argued it would hurt children and
families, and “risk losing the very safety net” instigated by Beveridge.
Their joint
letter also stated “the truth is that the vast majority of those who rely on
benefits and tax credits are either in work, have worked, or will be in work in
the near future … while the chancellor paints a picture of so-called ‘strivers’
and ‘skivers,’ our organisations see the reality on the ground: families
scraping by in low-paid work, or being bounced from insecure jobs to benefits
and back again."
I believe that the
Coalition Government needs to listen to those groups campaigning to end all
forms of poverty and social injustice, and to act accordingly, with the spirit
of Beveridge foremost in their minds.
