Nato the open with Nigel Lawson's budget on Tuesday.
For the first time, the increase government borrowing to finance the was admitted to be E=: billion. The increase ir government spending to finance the strike was £2% billion. The loss to the £4 . alance billion. The difference between the government's spending and its income overshot from planned In short, the strike shot to pieces the government's tionomic policy not only forger. The 1 billion Cost for the next A thur Scargill, and the £5 City analysts, were shown to be ta: closer to the mark thar £3 billion claimed by tire So of the first casualties the giveaway lax culling bliciget gel Lawson had planned revive government's sagging •pulanity. in une arve to smash the NUM the chanLOSE more than halt £1½ billion tax cuts he *wu oro culcu last aulumn. Without the tax cutting acing on the cake, the harsh realities OI economic strategy stand out still more clearly.
In the Lawson budget there was not a hint even of kte mild reformist measInland 6 months £8; 12 months £15 Overseas (12 months only), Europe £17; Air Mail £24 (Double these rates for multi-reader institutions)
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Led. (TU), L ures which Tory 'wets' and the SDP had been advocating. There were no serious measures of public spenang on investineil i the 'infrastructure' roads, railways, rebuilding the cities and so on which would least temporarily reduce unemployment.
The real emphasis of the budget was wage Cute. Above all wage cutting aimed against the paid allu against young people Chris Pond of the Low Pay Unit rightly described it as a 'disaster' for the low paid. The YTS scheme isto se extended to two years for 16 year olds, and the government is increasing Ine drive to make compulsory.
Lawson announced a continuing drive against wage councils. It will now take two years for workers to quality for the meagre protection of the 'unfair dismissal' laws.
At the other end of the age scale the average old age pensioner will actually off after the budget.
The goal of the budget was vel nomer moloc screw Thatcher's basic domestic economic policies. . Her aim is to segment and Hagment lne working by every SUBSCRIBE I enclose cheque/PO payable to Socialist Action for £ . Send to: Jocialist Action Subs, PO Box 50, London N1 type of differential within Some workers are to be encouraged to become self-employed by £55 million of further tax concessions numbers of self-employed, OVCI million, are today higher In an alany 1921.
Those in work and paying tax will gain someof income tax thresholds. But the unemployed, the low paid, young. women pensioners will all be hit by the budget.
The aim, once more, is try concentrate resources on maintaining Party support from the white, male. skilled workers, buying their own house, who Thatcher successfully attracted 1979 — and who have had wage increases of almost per cent under her government. The rest of working will sutter further blows.
But, to return to the beginning, this time Thatcher's economic polIcy has been drastically upset by the miners' strike. The tax concessions, after the economic impact of the strike, we judge are too low to buy Thatcher the type of popularity she was seeking. The opinion polls and any by-elections, are in the next months.
The miners have not DhA HADDIC
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ON QUESTION TIME immediately after the miners' Strike Tony Benn said that the miners had lost the Tory Party the next election. It was a bit too optimistic but he truth of the incredible damage done to Thatcher's economic policies by the strike did begin to come out