The Green Party reckons the coalition is a recipe for unemployment. What do Tonbridge People think?http://tinyurl.com/29ztasg

The Green Party reckons the coalition is a recipe for unemployment. What do Tonbridge People think?
tinyurl.com/29ztasg

Dear Ginny,
The Coalition plans £6 bn in spending cuts and envisages more cuts in public spending soon. Sectors which will lose employment include:
a) the Civil Service: we have a lot of local people who commute into Civil Service jobs which are under a general threat of cuts;
b) the local Council/County Council: cuts are already taking place, and more are expected due to a significant cutback in funding for local government;
c) the NHS: despite claims of maintaining spending in England and Wales, the Coalition wants at least £20 bn of 'efficiency savings' - not possible without cutting employment;
d) cuts in Police spending are apparently quite likely and as are crime rates are low here in West Kent, we can expect cuts locally;
d) all cuts in public service employment mean reduced household incomes in our area. This means these households cut their spending in local businesses, which will then lose jobs accordingly.

This is avoidable. It is possible to raise taxes significantly for the richest fifth of households to help maintain public spending and public service employment. It is possible to cut defence spending by stopping UK involvement in Afghanistan and cancelling the proposed £97 bn spend on Trident nuclear missile renewal. It is possible to stop the proposed £30 bn ten year roads programme. It is possible to tax currency transactions to stop speculation and to generally raise taxes upon the financial sector. With such policies, it is possible to address the deficit by the least painful means - increased taxation, not reducing employment.

best wishes, Steve Dawe - TONBRIDGE AND MALLING GREEN PARTY

Dear Theo,
The current Coalition has:

- no plans to deal with the imminent peak in cheap recoverable oil supplies which will contribute to inflation
- a faith in the private sector which is not borne out by the experience of failed private sector led regeneration approaches tried in both low and middle income countries. Sustainable regeneration in the UK and in other advanced industrialised states has always been public sector led (as after WWII). Reliance on the private sector under Thatcher led to the highest real levels of unemployment, business closures and re-possessions this country has ever had in its history
- no intention of returning to 'good, old fashioned' Tory policies of the 1950s which were based on full employment, higher public spending, higher taxation on the rich - and which were successful because energy prices were low - unlike now.
- no willingness to tackle the deficit by actually providing fair taxation of the wealthiest as an essential element.

We are heading for a double dip recession without fundamental changes of policy.

Yours sincerely
Steve Dawe
TONBRIDGE AND MALLING GREEN PARTY

Surely it is too early to tell? I don't think any of us will really know for months and months and maybe years, that is the problem. It is guess work. Look at the recession - that happened because of America, not because of what our domestic policies were. Whatever the COnDems do we are all in the lap of the Gods.