MORE inflation and unemployment -these are the fruits of the Tory budget They spell another round of belt-tightening for Tax increases will take about £5 a week out of the family purse. Less purchasing power will mean more lacto ories grinding to a halt. It is estimated to the dole queues by 1982.
At the same time, the increase in tax on petrol and other consumer goods will push the inflation rate up by two per- people. cent, thus eroding pay packets still furHowa's budget has, of course, brougnt torth nowls of protest trom the Labour leaders who have denounced it as the "harshest" since the war.
Harsh it certainly is but, from the Tory point of view, it is strictly rational. Ever since coming to power, the Tory government has been pursuing That has been to create mass unem ployment so that they can terrorise workers into accepting speed-up and The aim of this is to create a new "streamlined" British industry capable of competing overseas. The budget certainly fits in with this strategy.
The net effect of Howe's budget will be to deepen the present recession still further. Whole areas of the country wil be turned into industrial deserts to intimidate workers into accepting the 10 ries' rationalisation schemes.
This is what is worrying big business Tories' strategy. The CBI is frightened that the attempt to control the unions, through unemployment, could push hundreds of profitable businesses to the wall. In the first two months of this year, for example, over 3000 firms went bust Despite the outcry against the budget, however, even from big business, the Tories are pushing ahead with their disastrous policies. • e cornered all mals, they are hitting out widely at the jobs and living standards of working Talk by the TUC and Labour leaders of this being the "harshest budget" in memory will not help. It will not help the thousands pushed onto the dole, the thousands pushed onto the poverty line and the millions more faced with a dramatic drop in living standards What is needed by the Labour leaders is not rhetoric but action that can dety the Tory policies head-on.
JOBLESS Over the past few months, the TUC and NEC of the Labour Party were lorcea - under mass pressule - le mount a campaign against Thatcher's jobless drive. One hundred and fifty thousand people turned out in Liverpool last December and over 75,000 in Glasgow a lew montas lalet Next month, the TUC is organising a mass Liverpool to London march. It is building actions such as these that will begin to reverse the tide. Mass actol -around real fighting policies - could begin to mobilise the support of millions angry and frustrated by this anti-working class government.