through tough times. While supporting people through tough times is a crucial function of the Welfare State, it is my firm contention that it should serve additional purposes, too. In fact, we need a plan to constructively use the benefits system to cajole a new wave of social mobility and a more harmonious society.
The Department for Work and Pensions( DWP) is the biggest spending government department. In 2011-12 the Treasury says £ 200 billion will be spent on social protection in Great Britain. This represents 28.1 % of total government spending and 13.7 % of GDP. From these cursory figures it becomes immediately obvious that the DWP has the economic firepower to be a truly revolutionary arm of government.
' DWP has the economic firepower to be a truly revolutionary arm of government '
The 2011 riots
I have elaborated upon one reason already why a revolutionary change to government policy is necessary: the fact that the gap between the top and bottom earners is widening, dangerously. But this, while terrifying, is only the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the iceberg – the submerged majority – bobbed above the surface for several days during the riots, in August 2011. Our streets were taken over by destructive youths, who had little concern for the businesses and safety of their local communities. An estimated £ 200 million worth of damage occurred to property, five people died, dozens were injured and 186 police officers were hospitalised.
While the riots were thoroughly despicable and totally unjustifiable, the Government’ s response was prosaic in the extreme. From the comfort of Number 10, on 15 th August 2011, David Cameron prophesied that the riots were the result of a“ broken society” descending into“ moral collapse”. It was“ pure criminality” and he rejected any link to race, government cuts or poverty. The Prime Minister’ s response was prosaic because it is possible to look at the damage caused by the riots as both pure criminality and the result of inequality.
It is not incumbent upon one to accept the means a group deploys just because one empathises with the situation they face. Indeed, the Jarrow Marchers, in 1936, did not see the need to destroy the homes and livelihoods of their neighbours; they took to the streets to protest calmly and drumup public support. Therefore, while the criminals who tore the hearts out of their communities – as David Lammy said they did in Tottenham – deserved to have the book thrown at them, it is also imperative that the Government initiates policies to prevent such unbridled lawlessness ever occurring again.
But what, exactly, caused the unbridled lawlessness? Camila Batmanghelidjh, writing in The Independent, on the 8 th August 2011, had the answer:“ An absence of morality can easily be found in the rioters and looters. How, we ask, could they attack their own community with such disregard? But the young people would reply " easily ", because they feel they don ' t actually belong to the community. Community, they would say, has nothing to offer them. Instead, for years they have experienced themselves cut adrift from civil society ' s legitimate structures.”
As the High Pay Commission reported on 22 nd November 2011, chief executives’ average pay deal, in 2010, was £ 3.8 million – a rise of 5000 % since 1980. This is in stark contrast to the average salary which stands at £ 25,900 – a rise of 400 % in the same time period. Consequently, it is not uncommon for those on low pay to work long hours, weekends, two jobs or evenings in order to earn enough to live in a society that has become a rich man’ s playground, where goods and utility prices have increased to reflect burgeoning top salaries, not suppressed to mirror average and lower ones. revolutionise. it 17