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item0064D 946, 947 946 11 March 2004
Roger Michael McCarthy's point is well made . Both politicians and trade unionists have difficulty in dealing with this issue - the unions, mainly because of their tendency to protect their own so-called 'turf.'From a socialist perspective, it would have been desirable to have defined the rights of East European workers before embarking upon enlargement in the first place. The opportunity for definition should indeed have been grasped when dealing with the new “Constitution for Europe”. I would have welcomed a clear definition of the rights of a European worker/citizen vis-a-vis the institutions of the nation states and of the EU itself.. The present Social Chapter, as well as European company and employment rights, could have been strengthened by a closer alignment between nation states. At the same time, we could have provided a clearer framework for the subsidiarity of political power within the regions of each national system. I was amused recently at the public indignation triggered by the fast-tracking "profitable" economic migrants to the UK. This has been going on for years - and I speak from the experience of being a paid professional charged with getting these wealthy individuals into the UK. But, as Michael McCarthy says, that was because these individuals were treated as vehicles for capital - and not as “labour” at all.... Regards Peter Peter brings a new perspective to the debate - what's your? Drop me a line
947 12 March 2004
Housing Benefit
This week's report from Secretary of State Andrew Smith graphically issues a pet theme of mine. It is that, as Right/Left divisions lose their cutting edge, issues of human dignity and respect - issues of human and civil rights - will rise rapidly up the political agenda. It is, sadly, unlikely that these pages are read by any of the 4,000,000 poorer UK tenants who are entitled to receive Housing Benefit. But it is there, in the murky depths of the Department of Work and Pensions, that a new view of citizenship and human nature is emerging. I am delighted.
Labour has initiated a clever experiment. In nine pilot areas, the Department has paid to tenants an " average rental voucher", based on a standardised local rent for the category of accommodation which his family needs dictate. Each tenant is encouraged to go into the local market-place and find accommodation for himself, using the "rental voucher". If he is content with a lower-rented unit, he can pocket the difference. If he takes on above-average accommodation, he must pay the difference himself.Just consider the theoretical advantages of this system.
If this system were to work UK-wide, the advantages would be enormous. But is this a "right-wing" reform, or "left-wing"? Or LibDem? I dunno. I know it is a good idea, trusting our fellow citizens to make sensible judgments about their own interests and requirements, and minimising the cost of providing Housing Benefit. There are bound to be glitches, as people learn, over the years, how to "play the system.
What do you think? Drop me a line
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