Austerity isn't over for everyone

Responding to Theresa May's announcement of an end to austerity, disability action group DPAC say as long as Universal Credit exists it's still real for many
Anti-austerity march in Wales

Theresa May’s ‘end of austerity’ announcement has little meaning for those on society’s margins unless the roll-out of Universal Credit is halted, a disability group said.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister said: “A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and their hard work has paid off.”

She promised “better days ahead” and that “support for public services will go up”.

However, Linda Burnip, co-founder of campaigning group Disabled People Against Cuts, told Professional Social Work: “May's end to austerity must only be for her rich Tory friends because while Universal Credit exists disabled people, women and low paid workers will still be made to exist in dire poverty.”

BASW has actively campaigned against an end to austerity introduced by the Conservatives in response to the financial crash of 2008.

It launched an Austerity Action Group and Campaign Action Pack to help people protest against the policy.

Former BASW chair Guy Shennan, who organised a 100-mile Boot Out Austerity walk from Birmingham to Liverpool last year to highlight the impact of cuts, said: "A conference speech delivered with keeping the leader’s job in mind is one thing, real policy change is another - we’ll keep walking until we  know we have the latter."