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From The Socialist newspaper, 22 March 2017
- Four million kids in poverty
- Single parents to lose £2,850
Fight Tory attacks on women and children
Women march in Madrid for International Women's Day photo CWI (Click to enlarge)
Suzanne Beishon, working parent
"When I stood on the steps of Downing Street and said I wanted this to be a country that works for everyone - I meant it." Theresa May has Tory rhetoric down.
This was what she spewed on International Women's Day when announcing that a pretty measly £5 million would be put towards helping women back to work after taking time out to raise a family.
Except why would you want to go back to work when the grim reality is that working parents in Britain, especially single parents, will be some of the hardest hit by cuts in the Tory budget? A single parent of two who works 17 hours a week faces losing out on £2,850 a year by 2020.
The research for the Child Poverty Action Group has also shown that a single parent working 24 hours a week would lose £2,465; one working 16 hours a week would miss out on £2,205; and an unemployed single-parent would lose £1,538.
Researchers said these cuts will have a massive impact on child poverty figures. Figures which this week showed child poverty at its highest level since 2010. A devastating four million now living in relative poverty - an increase of 100,000 in 2015-16.
Household data published by the government showed 67% are from working families, with the biggest surge among children of single parents who work full time.
Despite Tory newspeak, work clearly doesn't pay. On the contrary, this vicious government and its big business mates are doing everything possible to pick the pockets of "hard-working families."
The May government isn't strong. The budget and its cuts aren't set in stone. Already Chancellor Philip Hammond has been forced into a humiliating climbdown on his tax raid on the self-employed.
We can force them back on these vicious cuts that plunge children into poverty - with a collective fightback, including coordinated industrial action and campaigning for a working class political voice.
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In The Socialist 22 March 2017:
What we think
Tory splits brought to the surface - Corbyn must go on the attack
Socialist Party news and analysis
Tories scrap housing benefit for under-21s
Fight Tory attacks on women and children
Socialists demand reply to Livingstone's smear of Militant
International socialist news and analysis
Northern Ireland: divisive election a warning
Jobstown Not Guilty: defend the right to protest
Netherlands: Heavy defeat for austerity government
Yemen: families left to starve by multinationals
Workplace news and analysis
Merseyrail guard found not guilty of "endangering safety"
End the seven-year public sector pay cap!
Aslef offer: unity needed with the RMT
Battle steps up in Unite general secretary election
Derby TAs' strike suspended after new offer
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
March against racism: Refugee Rights has lively bloc
Biggest ever protest by Orgreave campaigners
Join the march against NHS cuts and privatisation in Cumbria
Battle for Wallsend walk-in NHS service
East London demonstration against A&E closure
Salford: International Women's Day meeting
Socialist readers' comments and reviews
"After seeing the branch's effect in the community, I decided to join"
'I'm writing this to tell you about the plight of disabled people'
Precise, visceral account of working class heroism
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2021