Meeting of the Parliament 06 November 2018
It is with a heavy heart that I rise to speak. I am ashamed, angry and despondent that, in one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, we have in the 21st century a situation in which the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting even richer. That situation is solely due to the Westminster Government’s policy choices and is so bad that it attracts international attention and condemnation from the United Nations and other bodies concerned about human rights. I am mortified.
The roll-out of universal credit began in Aberdeen last Monday and, to be honest, all of us who are in any way involved are just dreading the consequences. The public sector agencies involved, Citizens Advice Scotland locally, food banks, housing providers and my own staff all expect to see a rise in demand for their services. Regardless of how well prepared we are in terms of attending courses or reading up on the changes, we are all fearful. I am especially grateful to Stuart Reid, money adviser in Aberdeen City Council’s financial inclusion team, for all his efforts to keep us informed of all the likely consequences of the roll-out of universal credit in Aberdeen
No one would disagree that the social security system needed to be simplified, as different benefits were changed over time and the system became overly complicated, but no one—no one apart from the Tories—agrees that it should be an opportunity to make the poor poorer by reducing the amount of money available.
It needs to be remembered that the biggest part of the social security bill is pensions and, even then, we have in the UK one of the lowest state pensions in Europe. Westminster needs to reorganise its finances to meet the electorate’s demand to live in a society that looks after those who fall on hard times and need the safety net that a universal social security system provides, as Mark Griffin so graphically illustrated.
Instead, along with its supporters in some of the red tops, the Westminster Government loves to give the impression that the burden of social security payments is doled out to the “feckless poor”, who just want to live on benefits for their whole lives. Exceptionally few people want to live with the indignity of living on benefits—I have never had experience of people wanting to live on benefits in all my time as an elected politician, whether as a councillor for one of the poorest parts of Aberdeen or as an MSP with a very diverse constituency.