By a care worker
On the morning of 24 May, the BBC’s Politics England program ran a feature on social care, highlighting the dire situation many care homes find themselves in.
They interviewed Caroline Johnson MP (Sleaford and North Hykeham) on behalf of the Tories and Sarah Jones MP (Croydon Central) on behalf of the Labour Party.
Caroline Johnson refused to say what the Tories’ plan for social care is, disingenuously citing the need to deal with the Covid-19 crisis first. Particularly bizarrely given that, she called for “cross-party consensus” on the issue.
“What is Labour’s plan?”, Sarah Jones was asked. She waffled about the “need to design a system” which does good things, and was asked what that would look like. The furthest she would she go is to say there should be more funding and care workers should get a better deal.
She also said: “We need a settlement we can all agree with – the government says that’s what they want to do”.
So the Labour leadership wants a solution which will raise no objection from the hard-right, radically neo-liberal Tory government, which moreover refuses to say what it’s plan for social care is!
The last Labour Party conference voted for social care to be publicly-owned and provided (see here, pp19-20), so that the system is run for people not profit. Without that, in addition to everything else, “more funding” means more public subsidies for the private companies and corporations that have wrecked the care sector.
Yet again, the Labour leadership is ignoring the party’s democratically agreed policy, preferring to blather about consensus with the government.
Trade unionists and Labour members are organising to fight for public ownership of care, demanding a commitment and support from the party nationally. Join the fight.
Let us know what you think? Write a reply? theclarionmag@gmail.com
• For more on social care, see here.