The ideological point of the benefits cap

14th January 2014 Socialist Action 0

By Linda Anderson

New government figures underline that the benefits cap is all about ideology.

The figures show that 33,000 households were affected by the bedroom tax. Undoubtedly hard news for those people affected – and many of those bearing the brunt will be children. More than half of the total number of households affected so far are single parent ones. Single parent households are, in the vast majority, headed by women. So this is a policy hitting women – part of an assault on the post-war welfare state that is sledge-hammering away at the social and economic status of women – and children in the poorest households.

Austerity Labour will reap reaction

6th June 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey and Jane West

The announcement by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls that the Tories’ spending plans would be the ‘starting point’ for Labour’s own budget post-2015, and Ed Miliband’s endorsement of a continuing ‘benefit cap’, clarify the nature of the coming Labour government.