By David Swanson, IMT Edinburgh
Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne disgracefully attempted to defend the child benefit cap in the Holyrood Scottish parliament recently. In doing so, she provided a clear insight into the malicious mindset of the ruling class.
By endorsing the current cap on child tax credits, she highlighted the commitment of the ruling elite to make ordinary people pay for the crisis – all whilst continuing to turn a blind eye to the practices of the privileged.
Child Tax Credit, worth up to £2,780 per child per year, is paid by the government to low income families to help parents with the costs of bringing up a child. Since April 2017, it has been capped at a maximum of two children within a family, as part of a £12 billion package of cuts to welfare.
Defending this cap, Ms Ballantyne argued that “it is fair that people on benefits cannot have as many children as they like,” while those in work “have to make decisions”. In other words, those who dare to have more than two children, or who fall victim to capitalism’s demand for austerity, must be stigmatised and heavily punished.
In an attempt to further justify this harsh Tory policy, Ms Ballantyne said, “Fairness should apply to everyone, not just one section of the community”.
But Ballantyne’s comments expose the hypocrisy of the ruling class. For example, what about Britain’s parasitical royal family? Clearly, the Tories’ idea of ‘fairness’ does not apply to everyone!
Despite hoarding a private net wealth of at least £415 million, Her Majesty the Queen is set to receive £82.2 million in 2018-19 in the form of benefit payments – aka. the ‘Sovereign Grant’. This is an increase of £6.1 million from the previous year, coming – of course – with no conditions on the number of princes or princesses permitted.
So, whilst the Tories cut over £12 billion from welfare payments to Britain’s poorest, the welfare handouts to some of Britain’s richest continue to go up and up.
We must unite to consign the hateful practices of Michelle Ballantyne and the class she represent to history. In a socialist world free from poverty, we will create the conditions where nobody has to limit the size of their family due to economic considerations.
