More than 120,000 children will be homeless in Britain this Christmas – an exponential rise on the previous year’s figures.
Over a million Brits were forced into using foodbanks last year, with this figure also expected to rise in 2016.
The NHS is in £2.5bn worth of debt – with hospital chiefs warning its capacity is stretched to breaking point.
Funding for schools is being cut by 7% at a rate of £20,000 per pupil over the span of their education.
I could go on, and on, and on.
The list of cuts to public services by the current Tory government is virtually endless, and their implications are being felt across the country with the harshest cuts falling on the most vulnerable. Added to the fact that wages have stagnated, and the cost of living rising exponentially, it’s little wonder that the British public voted to try and change the status quo by voting for Brexit.
And as if the public wasn’t already angry enough, and despite there apparently being no extra money for a collapsing NHS, the government have decided to announce that they have managed to find an extra £369m down the back of the sofa for ‘essential’ repairs to the Queen’s 775-room Buckingham Palace.
In terms of public perception, the timing of this announcement could not have been worse. I would hasten a bet that even a few staunch monarchists and self-avowed ‘patriots’ are having a hard time trying to dissect their emotional response enough to try and justify this prioritisation in their own heads.
The current Tory government have perpetually used the phrase ‘tough decisions’ to justify their cuts to public services and welfare. Yet, when it comes to providing yet more handouts to our already obscenely wealthy unelected head of state; or whether it’s money for wars, or tax cuts to massive corporations who already benefit from ridiculous tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share, the government rarely seems to find these decisions ‘tough’.
It’s not the powerless, the immigrants, or the ordinary working person who are causing this mess we’re in. It’s those who actually decide where our money is ‘best’ spent. That’s where our justifiable anger should be directed.
If you’re still having a hard time trying to justify prioritising a f*cking building over the lives of over a million British citizens who are living in abject poverty, you probably need to take a long hard look and reassess your so called ‘patriotic’ British values.
Get Involved!
Sign the petition urging the government to make the royals pay for the project instead of the taxpayer – https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-royals-pay-for-palace-renovation.
