Grant Shapps' interesting year.

Grant Shapps

I find myself in the strange situation of almost feeling sorry for Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport.

Over the last few weeks Boris Johnson has thrown him under a bus twice; he has used him as a disposable doormat. It will be interesting to see if Grant Shapps will come back for more or will decide that enough is enough and will try to regain some self-respect.

Grants Shapps has had a chequered past in politics. There were allegations that he amended his Wikipedia details; that he operated a company under an assumed name while being an MP; that he failed to respond to concerns about the conduct of a conservative party official.

2020 is an interesting year for Grant Shapps. In January he was interviewed at London Bridge station. It was the day on which the annual increase in train fares came into effect. His opening remarks were “As a commuter myself…”

I wrote to Grant Shapps asking how he defined himself as a commuter, other than travelling from home to his place of work in central London. He did not reply. His travel to work arrangements are a chauffeur driven car between home and work. The car and driver are provided by the Government Car Service which is funded by the taxpayer. His other travel needs, his constituency is Welwyn and Hatfield, are also funded by the taxpayer.

I wondered whether the provision of the ministerial vehicle should be regarded as a benefit in kind ie should he pay tax for the use of it? It appears that he would not have to make a contribution towards his travel to work costs because the ministerial red box which accompanies him has to be protected from any security breach. The safest way for the box to travel is by car and therefore he does not incur any travel to work costs. Rail fares increase every year and yet Grant Shapps considers himself to be a commuter without having to pay fares, stand on cold station platforms waitng for late and cancelled trains.

In May the Guardian and the Daily Mirror revealed that the Prime Minister’s top gopher/spokesman Dominic Cummings had decided that, suffering from Covid-19, he needed to leave London and self-isolate with his family in Durham. Dominic Cummings had decided that the Stay Home instruction did not apply to him so he left Downing Street to go to his London home where his wife had Covid 19, he returned to Downing Street for the afternoon, then he drove to Durham.

The fact that Dominic Cummings had broken the lockdown policy was big news. It was such big news that a retired teacher thought it was odd that he had seen the Cummings family in Barnard Castle which was about 25 miles from Durham.

Newspapers were alerted to this sighting and published the story that Mr Cummings had not stayed on the family farm but had made an excursion. Downing Street were asked to comment and this gave Grant Shapps the opportunity to show that he could be trusted with managing the news rounds over the weekend. He had been briefed by Downing Street so he felt he was on firm ground when he denied to each news outlet that the Cummings family had left the farm. He was very robust in his denials and tried to convince interviewers that the upgrade of the A66 was a more interesting subject. They, like most of the general public, were fairly unenthusiastic about the future of the A66.

The story of the Barnard Castle excursion did not die, it appeared to have “legs”. Some days later we were treated to the bizarre spectacle of Dominic Cummings giving a press conference in the Downing Street Rose Garden and explaining the reasons for his departure from London and his excursion to Barnard Castle. The public were asked to believe his explanation that the 50 mile drive with his family in the car was an eyesight test and health check.

Poor Grant Shapps must have felt betrayed by those he trusted. The only alternative is that he was lying when he confirmed the Downing Street story knowing it to be untrue. If he had lied to Parliament and been found out he would have been forced to resign however lying to the whole country is not a resigning matter these days.

Grant Shapps had another moment in the sun in June when he confirmed in all news interviews that Boris Johnson would not extend the food voucher scheme for disadvantaged children through the summer holidays. He must have been dismayed when he heard, about 3 hours later, that the scheme was being extended because Boris Johnson had only recently found out about it and had spoken to Marcus Rashford.

Clearly the Downing Street operation is not as good as it used to be or someone is being economical with the truth. If Boris Johnson did not know about the campaign, why was Downing Street briefing against it? The Chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon (Tory), had written to Boris Johnson several days earlier suggesting that the scheme be extended. Tory MPs had expressed their unease to government Whips about the closure of the scheme.What is the point of writing if nobody reads the letters?

I have written to Grant Shapps seeking a reply to my earlier query about his commuter status. I have also asked him what he knew about Dominic Cummings. I await his reply. I think I may be waiting for some time. I shall pursue the question of whether a chauffeur driven car to work is a benefit in kind. Civil servants who had to use their own cars for official business were taxed on their travelling claims because the mileage rate was seen as a benefit in kind.

Conclusion. There isn’t one. At what point will it become apparent to the British people that we are governed by a bunch of chancers and charlatons? I have to use the words of that well known political philosopher Terry Thomas “What a shower, what an absolute shower!”

Maxine Leyland: London ARMs

ASDA Workers Forced to Sign New Contract or Lose Their Job

One of retail's Big 4 grocers, ASDA, set a deadline of 2.11.19 for staff to sign a new contract or be dismissed. They launched a consultation with around 60,000 staff in May and GMB have stated that they believe 12,000 of these are under the threat of dismissal in the run up to Christmas. Some workers comments in the Retail Gazette are eye opening, with several stating they have been bullied into signing. ASDA announced on 6.11.19 that the deadline to sign Contract 6 has been extended to 10.11.19. However some staff are reporting that they have received already dismissal letters.

Whilst the new contract increases hourly pay for shop workers from £9.00 to £9.18 in April 2020, it removes paid breaks; makes working bank holidays mandatory unless staff are able to take leave from their annual leave allowance; reduces the night shift and consequently pay from eight hours to five hours per shift (12.00am to 5.00am) and those on day shifts have to agree to make themselves available to do any shifts between the hours of 8.00am and 10.00pm.

This will clearly have an adverse impact on many workers, but for those who have caring responsibilities and others with difficulties meeting the flexibility that ASDA bosses insist upon it, it will be impossible to meet. The contract is being dubbed "The Martini Contract" by staff who feel they are being expected to work "Any time, any place, anywhere", a phrase made famous in the 1970's advertising slogan for that drink brand. As part of their campaign against these detrimental and discriminatory changes the GMB is urging people to sign the letter to the ASDA CEO which can be found HERE

Please consider adding your name.

Jacquie Hadfield

Tony Mulhearn : A Life Well Lived

It was with sadness that Neville Grundy, chair of ARMS Mersey, informed us of the death of our friend and comrade, Tony Mulhearn, on Monday 7th October 2019. Tony was a member of PCS and latterly a respected, valued member of the North West ARMs and of course ARMS Mersey. Sincere condolences go to his family, friends and all who knew him.

The Liverpool Echo paid a tribute to "one of Liverpool's best-known political activists" in two articles. One took up the front page and another was entitled; "Tony Mulhearn - the life and times of a champion of the working class". He was a political activist and trade unionist for 50 years and was amongst the "Liverpool 47" Labour Councillors who took on the Thatcher Government. His amazing life and love for his family were detailed in the articles which you can read here:

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/tony-mulhearn-life-times-champion-17044046

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/veteran-liverpool-political-campaigner-tony-17044088

Even in March 2019 Tony was showing his love for campaigning and desire to support all generations when he attended the youth climate change strike outside St. George's Hall, Liverpool. Tony is seen here on the right.

Although I have not known Tony for as long as many other Trade Union comrades, I found him to be a lovely, interesting and interested person to talk to. He will be missed for his knowledge, determination to do what is right and his brilliant contributions to meetings. The world has lost a caring, kind individual who was a passionate campaigner and touched so many people's lives for the better.

Your memories and tributes to Tony would be appreciated.

Jacquie Hadfield

What can we Britons cope with?

Save the over 75 TV licence

As you doubtless know, the government has passed the funding of TV licences for people aged over 75 to the BBC. It is iniquitous that what is in essence a form of universal benefit should be dumped on our national broadcaster. The reason is obvious: if the BBC decides it cannot afford to administer the concession, as seems likely, it will be blamed rather than the government that decided that a national concession introduced by one of its predecessors should now be paid for by a media corporation.

This is ministerial cowardice of the first order: deliberately ducking responsibility for one's own official actions.

The NPC is organising a demo in London on 7 March - details on the right.

They have also produced a petition (below).

• Right-click on the petition.
• On the menu that appears, click on 'Save image as...'
• Click 'save' to download to your computer
• You can then print it in the normal way.

Bus passes - unequal and at risk

A begrudged concession

There have in recent years been discontented mutterings in certain strands of the political classes who despise ordinary people receiving - as they see it - something for nothing. As most of us know, they now have TV licences for the over-75s in their sights, but some have been resentfully eyeing up concessionary bus passes as well.

National bus passes were introduced for everyone over 60 across the entire UK quite a few years ago now, though each is valid only within the UK nation in which you reside. For example, a Welsh pass is valid only in Wales.

What many people don't realise is that the attack on concessionary travel has already begun, but only for residents in England - not for those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In all of the UK, excepting England, you receive your national bus pass at 60. In England, you receive the national bus pass when you reach the female State Pension age, whether you're a man or a woman. For most people - and soon for all - this will be when they reach 66.

The inequality for the English doesn't end here. London residents get a pass for free travel on buses in London at 60, and Merseyside gives free travel on buses, trains and ferries within the county, also at 60. There may be other parts of England that make similar local offers, but I haven't heard of them.

An example of the cost of this discrepancy: if we take the standard bus fare in my area (£2.30), a person who catches the bus four times a week, perhaps for two return trips to the shops, will lose more than £2,800 through getting their pass at 66 instead of 60. Obviously, the more trips, the higher the cost.

An article on the NHS website in 2012 stated:

"Research [has] found that older people who had a free bus pass were more likely to take part in what the researchers describe as 'active travel'. The definition of active travel includes riding on a bus and activities such as walking and riding a bike. While not studied by the researchers, they did speculate that frequent active travel may have a positive effect on mood and mental health.

"This study comes at a time when the government is reportedly considering scrapping free travel for pensioners or making it means tested. It is useful to consider the contribution free bus passes may make to levels of physical activity among older people.

"Even a small amount of physical activity is known to reduce the risk of disability in older people. And, while the national free bus pass scheme is estimated to cost taxpayers around £1 billion a year, the annual health costs associated with disability and physical inactivity far outweigh that at an estimated £10.7 billion."

With the isolation of some elderly people being recognised as a growing social problem, especially with the decline of extended families, free travel is surely a significant part of any solution, and will help prevent people from declining into immobility, depression, or both, through being stuck in the house.

I despise the short-sighted, penny-pinching attitude of wealthy here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement*. That attitude has already created a real threat to passes because of major cuts in council funding since 2010: the Local Government Association warned last year that maintaining the pass is becoming "almost impossible".

The difference among the nations of the UK will be explained away by saying that bus passes are 'a devolved matter', but that doesn't apply in England which has been denied devolution. I do wonder hypothetically whether a devolved assembly in England would have taken the high-handed action on concessionary passes that the British government chose to impose upon the English.

I'm a resident of Merseyside and received my Merseytravel pass at 60. I still own a car, but my car use has at least halved since I acquired free local travel, and I know others who have stopped running a car altogether. There are environmental gains in encouraging people to use public transport, not by the stick of making motoring more expensive, but by the carrot of affordable public transport. Public and private transport both being expensive will simply increase isolation with its multiple associated problems.

We live in a society where many of our wealthy rulers believe that poverty is a consequence of indolence or bad choices and see no reason why such irresponsible behaviour (as they view it) should be rewarded. We should oppose any attacks on concessionary travel with the same vigour, and for very similar reasons, that we apply to attacks on the benefits system, caring services and the NHS. All such attacks have a common cause, and therefore require a common response.

Neville Grundy
ARMS

••••••••••••••••••

* The sense of entitlement I refer to allows MPs and peers to:

• Eat and drink alcohol in taxpayer-subsidised bars and restaurants in Parliament.
• Claim expenses for items that the rest of us would have to meet out of our own pockets, such as TV licences.
• Claim the costs of mortgages on second homes in London - and then keep the home at the end of it all. Bought by us, thank you!

This list is by no means exhaustive!

Government pensions grab impoverishes miners

Then: fighting the government for their jobs.

Now:  fighting the government for their pensions.

This is a scandal that has largely slipped by unnoticed: the massive profits our government has made over decades by creaming huge sums of money from British miners' pension schemes.

Ministers took £617 million from the miners’ pension fund in 2018 to top up Treasury coffers, bringing the total removed to more than £4.4 billion in 24 years. The scandal has left retired pit workers receiving disgracefully low payouts averaging £84 a week, with at least 6,000 having had their pensions cut. Successive governments have mined the rich seam of funds since 1994. The Tories have pocketed two payments of £51 million in the last two years alone and have never put a penny back. Energy Minister Claire Perry recently revealed that the government will purloin another £427 million over the next three years.

Six months ago, Labour MP Dennis Skinner raised the matter in parliament at Prime Minister's Questions: "Is the minister aware that already his government have taken more than three and a half billion pounds out of the miners' pension? They're like Philip Green and Maxwell put together. Stop stealing the miners' pension."

Gloria De Piero, Labour MP for Ashfield, wrote in The Mirror last September: "It seems like daylight robbery to many. While many MPS [Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme] pensioners struggle to get by, the Government is profiting to the tune of billions of pounds from the investments of miners’ pension contributions. This is quite simply, grossly unfair, and it really is time the government did the decent thing and started talks to renegotiate the surplus sharing arrangement."

Considered alongside the WASPI scandal, it is clear that the government regards the pensions of ordinary people as a resource to be plundered at will without any concern for either the injustice of depriving people what they have worked for all their lives or the indignity of needless poverty in retirement.

Details of how the rip-off came about can be found at WalesOnLine, and an on-line petition has been set up to demand that this injustice be stopped. You can sign it here.

Happy Fat Cat Friday (for some)!

I picked up the Metro on the bus today and read on page 2 an article headlined, 'Fat Cat Friday'. A few minutes later, I saw the same headline on Sky News on TV in the pub. By 1.00 pm today (Friday 4 January), the UK's top chief executives will have been paid as much since the start of 2019 as an average worker is paid in a year.

According to a study by the High Pay Centre and the Chartered Institute of Personnel, the average FTSE-100 CEO is paid £133 for every £1 earned by their employees. Twenty years ago, the figure was £45 for every £1 earned by their staff. To put it another way, they receive more than £1,000 per hour, while the living wage is £7.83 per hour.

Such unjustifiable remunerations are based on the self-serving fantasy of uniquely irreplaceable top managers who are - it is preposterously alleged - worth every penny of their bloated pay packets. On the other hand, the wages of the workers who actually create the wealth is treated as a cost to be minimised.

According to the study, the median pay packet of top CEOs is £3.9 million, an increase of 11% in a year. Frances O'Grady, TUC general secretary, responded to the findings by calling for 'big reforms to bring fat cat pay down to earth.'

This article follows on from the post of 19 December which pointed out that for every £1 million squandered on excessive executive pay, 65 minimum wage or 35 average wage jobs could have been created. Which do you think is worth more to the economy?

Neville Grundy
ARMS

Cost of rail privatisation

I seem to remember being told that privatisation would lead to competition which in turn would improve services and bring prices down. I had to travel by Northern Rail recently and asked the woman in the ticket office if the trains were running normally. "Normally for them," she replied.

Oppose privatisation of Food Standards inspections

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) now want to stop independent meat inspections by Meat Hygiene Inspectors and Official Vets and leave the slaughter houses to carry out their own inspections for hygiene and safety. For an organisation such as FSA to contemplate such a dangerous strategy in terms of public health is unbelievable.

The FSA was set up in 2000 after Mad Cow Disease to control bad practices within the food industry and claims to "put the consumer first". Whilst we appreciate they have excelled with regards to diet and nutrition, the same cannot be said for food-borne illnesses, mainly caused by contaminated meat.

New proposals mean that the meat industry will be able to regulate itself rather than have independent inspections - more details here. If our Meat Inspectors are not there to give us independent health and safety and hygiene advice in slaughter houses, we should be asking the question 'if the Food Standards Agency is really fit for its purpose?'

Please sign this petition to keep the Meat Hygiene Inspectors and inspections independent and send a clear message to the FSA to stop listening to the meat industry and pandering to their cost saving ideas at the expense of public health.

EU - who actually benefits?

The UK's richest 1% is on target to own two-thirds of all wealth by 2030. Foodbanks provide a lifeline to poor and working poor. The Tories continue to take a wrecking ball to the NHS and social provision. The EU's posted workers directive legitimises paying UK-based foreign workers slave wages.This horror has been a feature of life for the UK's working class since the crash 9 years ago while we have been full members of the neo-liberal EU.

Again the question is posed: Will those Remainers calling for a people's vote explain how the working class benefits from EU membership?

Tony Mulhearn
ARMS

Season's Greetings from ARMS

Happy Christmas and a Progressive New Year to all