Austerity bites: a journey to the sharp end of cuts in the UK

336 Pages·2015·1.662 MB·English

by  O'Hara, Mary

A JOURNEY TO THE SHARP END OF CUTS IN THE UK “An uncomfortable but necessary read.”
“This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand ROBIN INCE, writer, actor and comedian
AUSTERITY
the great human cost of austerity. Read it, get angry and get A
active.” “Mary O’Hara has written a powerful and vivid
U
JOSIE LONG, writer, activist and comedian account of the regressive and harmful impact of
S public spending cuts, which gives voice to those
“Travelling around the country interviewing people allowed BITES who are suffering. Read it and be angry. Pass
T
Mary O’Hara to harness first-hand accounts of the fallout of it on. Send a copy to your MP. To echo one of
cuts in the UK. Austerity bites brings together many poignant E her interviewees: those in power need to listen.”
stories of people affected by the first impact of the Coalition PROFESSOR THE BARONESS (RUTH) LISTER
R
government’s choice to impose social austerity on Britain.” OF BURTERSETT
DANNY DORLING, University of Oxford, author of Injustice I
(2011) and All that is solid (2014) T “Mary O’Hara’s mission is to give voice to those
experiencing hardship or injustice who are rarely
Y
MARY O’HARA is an award-winning journalist
heard. She travelled the UK for a year to bear
(including Mind Journalist of the Year and Highly After coming to power in May 2010, the Coalition government in the United
witness to the effects of Austerity Britain and we
Commended European Diversity Journalist of the Kingdom embarked on a drastic programme of cuts to public spending and
B
Year 2013). She writes about health, poverty and introduced a raft of austerity measures that had profoundly damaging effects should all pay attention to the result.”
social justice for publications including The Guardian on much of the population. I JANINE GIBSON, Editor in Chief, Guardian US
and The Observer. Mary was educated at St Louise’s
T
Comprehensive on the Falls Road in Belfast and at This timely and apposite book by award-winning journalist Mary O’Hara “Mary O’Hara’s book strips away the rhetoric
Magdalene College Cambridge, where she read social chronicles the true impact of austerity on people at the sharp end, based on her E
to reveal the truth. The United Kingdom is
and political science. In 2010 she was an Alistair ‘real-time’ 12-month journey around the country just as the most radical reforms
Cooke Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley, California, were being rolled out in 2012 and 2013. Drawing on hundreds of hours of S not the land of fairness, it’s a fearful place,
where she conducted research on press coverage compelling first-person interviews with a broad spectrum of people ranging from where the heaviest burdens fall on the weakest.”
of mental illness and suicide. She is a fellow of the homeless teenagers, older job-seekers, pensioners, charity workers, employment SIMON DUFFY, Director of the Centre for
Royal Society for the Arts, and trustee of the charity, advisers and youth workers, as well as an extensive body of research and reports, Welfare Reform
Arts Emergency. the book explores the grim reality of living under the biggest shakeup of the
M
welfare state in 60 years.
A
@maryohara1
R
A ‘must-read’ book, AUSTERITY BITES seeks to dispel any notion that ‘we are
Y FOREWORD BY
all in this together’ and offers an alternative to the dominant and simplistic
MARK
narrative that we inhabit a country of ‘skivers versus strivers’. O
’
H THOMAS
www.austeritybitesuk.com
A
http://austeritybitesbook.tumblr.com
R
A
Politics / Society and culture
ISBN 978-1-44731-560-5
MARY O’HARA
Published by Policy Press
University of Bristol www.policypress.co.uk
www.policypress.co.uk
policypress @policypress 9 781447 315605
J1108 austerity bites jacket.indd 1 01/05/2014 14:34
AUSTERITY BITES
For my husband, Colin and my sister Lisa
who are always there for me
AUSTERITY BITES
A journey to the sharp end of
cuts in the UK
Mary O’Hara
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by

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ISBN 978 1 44731 560 5 hardcover
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Austerity:
a definition
… difficult economic conditions created by
government measures to reduce a budget deficit,
especially by reducing public expenditure: a period
of austerity/[as modifier] austerity measures.
(Collins Dictionary)
* * * * *
“No matter how often it repeats that its actions are fair,
this government is making a political choice to attack the
public sector and, by doing this now, damaging the whole
of the economy long into the future.” (Derek Simpson,
Unite General Secretary, October 2010)
“Austerity has failed. It has failed in the UK and it has
failed in the Eurozone. Its failure was predictable and, by
some at least, predicted. It turned a nascent recovery into
stagnation. That imposes huge and unnecessary costs, not
just in the short run, but in the long term as well: the
costs of investments unmade, of businesses not started, of
skills atrophied and of hopes destroyed.” (Martin Wolf,
columnist, Financial Times, May 2013)
“Cutting the welfare state in the name of producing
more growth and opportunity is an offensive canard….
Austerity is not just the price of saving the banks. It’s the
price that banks want someone else to pay.” (Mark Blyth,
author of Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea, 2013)
v
austerity bites
“Your society’s broken, so who should we blame? Should
we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No,
let’s blame the people with no power and no money
and these immigrants who don’t even have the vote –
yeah, it must be their fucking fault.” (Iain Banks, author,
spring 2013)
“Austerity is not a medicine. It’s a cancer; a cancer at the
heart of society.” (Jack Monroe, blogger, November 2013)
“Austerity is not working. It isn’t working anywhere
it’s being used. I do not know why anybody with a so-
called intelligent mind would attempt to bring austerity
in when they can see it isn’t working anywhere else.”
(Maria McGee, resident, Cookstown, Northern Ireland,
January 2013)
“We never imagined we’d read about children, disabled
and non-disabled being left without food…. They say
there is no money but if they stopped tax evasion and
tax avoidance they wouldn’t have to make the cuts.”
(Linda Burnip, Disabled People Against Cuts [DPAC],
autumn 2013)
“I’ve got no TV. I’ve got no fridge running, I’m not using
the heating at all yet. To me it just looks so gloomy. I’ve
done my best. I’ve got two degrees. I’m afraid to put the
light on at night because of the cost of energy. It makes
me very angry but there’s not the support out there. I’m
just so stuck.” (Lynne Middleward, South Tyneside)
“I can’t think straight when the government cuts certain
things. I don’t know how they come to these decisions.
vi
austerity: a definition
I don’t think they live in the real world. They’re cutting
benefits people need to survive.” (‘Annie’, Birmingham)
“There’s people that are suicidal. There’s people with
mental health issues – and if they didn’t have mental issues
before, they have them now because they are being so
degraded. They are being so run down in life. I’m not
saying I want a life of luxury. I don’t want a life of luxury.
Do you know what I want? A life.” (‘Dec’, Luton)
“I think the moral test of any government or of anyone
with any humanity is ... do you look after the people
who are sick, who are lonely and depressed? That ain’t
happening. People are scared stiff.” (Jackie Gallagher,
Citizens Advice manager, Derry, Northern Ireland)
Work Capability assessor: “Are you suicidal?”
Benefits claimant: “Yes”
Assessor: “Well then, why haven’t you achieved it?”
vii

Contents
Acknowledgements x
Foreword xi
Introduction 1
one Money’s too tight to mention 19
Food poverty: austerity made visible
two The big squeeze 43
Financial insecurity: austerity and the erosion of household
income
three Welcome to ‘Wongaland’ 87
The rise of personal debt: austerity and the predatory lender
four Work maketh the person 109
The demonisation of the jobless: austerity and the myth of
the skiver
five All work and no pay 139
Work and wages: austerity and the jobs crisis
six Bearing the brunt 173
The targeting of people with disabilities: austerity at its
worst
seven A life lived in fear is a life half lived 209
Austerity pushes people to the edge
Conclusion 243
Notes 259
Index 309
ix