The crisis continues and capital introduces new ways to impose its counter measures

Yes the crisis of capital continues, in some ways slowed but continuing to exert itself first in one way and then another. There is plenty of evidence for this. Basic steel production and its demise has just cost several thousand jobs in the UK. Just as the Chinese premier visited to progress new deals over things such as nuclear power, the figures emerged about recent Chinese steel production – essentially throwing it away via ridiculously cheap exports as the world crisis continues, thus destroying the already weak industry in Europe and beyond. It has also only been vaguely mentioned in the press and wider media that major companies are being given a massive tax break to ease their profitability. At the same time junior doctors are facing worsening working conditions alongside the rest of the NHS workforce and working families have new depths of poverty facing them via tax credit cuts.

The new tactic being employed to divert attention and to shovel blame onto others that is being worked on relates to those new catchphrases – “northern powerhouses” and “new metropolitan areas”. The Government is looking to create new metropolitan areas and/or processes of 'democratisation' via new bodies organised in one way or another. It has been said that the deals have already been done in a number of areas – Manchester-ish, Cornwall, South Yorkshire-ish. The details, though, have not been fully thought out and written down in a final draft. Conferences are taking place allowing local and national politicians to discuss these matters with various 'experts' – business, politics, services etc. Studies are being undertaken by academics utilising members of the public, consultants, officials, the media, politicians and others 'of some standing'. Out of all of this central government hopes to be able to build the beginnings of a groundswell of positive opinion about such changes and also to find the best ways to implement new ways of passing the buck (such as it is, even though seriously devalued).

The setting

Capital is doing what it can to find its way out of its inevitable and ongoing crisis. The UK is no different to that worldwide situation. Just as we are greeted by news concerning new problems with the actions of multinationals in various parts of the world as they attempt to screw better profits out of the generation of raw materials – be they minerals, metals, food products and more. Similarly wage rates are under severe pressure wherever you look. In that this country is no different.

In the UK we have seen a generalised attack on real wage levels and employment overall. The government has done this via the encouragement of the expansion of zero hours contracts, a generalised movement towards self-employment, thus placing the burdens of care of workers on the workers themselves and the use of workfare. In this latter instance we have seen large retail outfits such as B&M either sack or cut the hours of long-standing employees replacing them with people on benefits forced to work for no wage whatsoever, without any extra benefits thus cutting the wage bill of the company and so giving them a greater opportunity to ramp up profits. Similarly there are a large number of so-called charities doing exactly the same. While they rely upon gifts and donations from the public they force people to work for them for no true wage, leaving the 'charity' able to pay its higher ranks ridiculous salaries and then pass on next to nothing to the proposed recipients of the charity's services etc.

For the Tories they have a slightly different problem as well. Their major allies are very often financiers, the denizens of the City, attempting to profit through plying this country and generally the world with financial products of one sort or another, sometimes dealing in property, the media (for example, Murdoch, also a close friend of Blair, and now in a heated battle to have the BBC dismembered and replaced essentially by Sky). Hence the neat fit recently with the abandonment of basic steel production in the UK in effect to the Chinese dragon. For the Tories such industrial production, mainly financed now by corporations outside of the UK, was a mere detail. It may provide employment for many, directly or indirectly, but it was an easy sacrifice to make so that other business could be done with the Chinese.

Then we must also mention the gradual dismemberment of the welfare state . There is still going to be increased pressure placed upon workers, particularly in those positions so beloved of the Tories – the low paid. Osborne desperately wants to hack away at any and all aspects of the budget so that it will be far easier for him to slide in a whole series of tax breaks for the Tory allies in big business and finance. He is hoping to add more and more of those able to get free passes from corporate taxation or reduce it to a level that is insignificant. Billions in tax cuts are being mentioned. To do this he is looking to slash working tax credits – one of the only means some families have to make ends meet or to come close to it and then manage something of a stable life in terms of the basics – food, rent, power, clothing etc. Similarly the NHS is under further attack as are those with health problems. The UN is looking at further investigations of IDS and the treatment of the sick and disabled and their benefits, believing them potentially (hah!) to be abusive and discriminatory. Hospitals and health provision in all aspects and areas is threatened with further changes and cuts. More involvement of private healthcare operations is being pushed through one way or another. Cameron's hope is to the UK turn back clocks to pre-welfare state times, where those with money could afford suitable and proper care leaving all others to the precarities of a system endlessly teetering on the edge of the cliff of despair. If all of this to be done by central government then Cameron and the rest of his creatures of Westminster are likely to face growing backlash similar or hopefully worse than that suffered by Thatcher. Therefore they are looking at any and all means at their disposal to pass changes of whatever forms they finally take onto the general population, particularly workers, those on benefits and those with diminished abilities (sick, disabled etc.).

Proposals from above

We are now being treated gradually to a series of proposals from Westminster concerning changes to local government. One possibility is to create large metropolitan areas in various parts of the country and give them not just figurehead mayors, a la Boris, but to give them a range of powers backed by all sorts of decision-making authorities elected to a greater or lesser extent. In other words we would be treated to a local politics of celebrity characters backed by generally hidden bodies and all of the soap-opera and cartoon-ish antics that go with it . Other possibilities seem to include a series of unelected imposed bodies feeding into new partially elected local councils. In other words we would have business based central government friendly quangos having a direct influence on decisions made or providing at the very least the foundations or frameworks in which such bodies would generally operate. Then we also have the possibility for larger local government areas, one that is well underway is a Greater Manchester metropolitan area with or without a super-mayor (clown or otherwise). Other areas envisaged include either one centred on Sheffield/South Yorkshire or wider in various ways – including West Yorkshire, perhaps parts of North Derbyshire etc. or perhaps Yorkshire as a whole.

The aim of central government is to pass on major areas of policy implementation to those areas. Along with this could go certain amounts of finance raising capacity but probably with serious conditions attached but not necessarily obvious to the general public. In all of this there are likely to be major qualifying conditions and restrictions. Given underlying conditions placed upon the whole agreement if the new bodies do not manage to hit certain targets and achieve certain of central government's aims, thus making central government look good, then there will be penalties of one sort or another imposed. There has been talk of new funding being made available, what is not said is that this is absolutely conditional, if x is not done then such funding would be withdrawn. The x in question is not something the new bodies would have any real choice over either – these are obviously going to be key features needed within the general plan of Cameron and his allies so they can achieve their grand design. The areas of operation of these new bodies would include roads, public transport, workfare, city planning, skills training implementation, housing, employment, certain areas of trade, business support, and more – the major area completely rejected by all those with whom this has been discussed is health – because it is obviously radioactive as an issue.

Firstly_, almost all the money on offer for the City Region is dependent on the delivery by them of Central Government policies. Whether that is in terms of new housing targets, Economic development or the implementation of the 'Welfare to Work' programmes._

Secondly_, many of the budgets being made the responsibility of the City Region are those likely to suffer significant cuts going forward. The new powers over business rates will phase out any redistributive element, potentially hitting the poorest towns and districts hardest._

Thirdly_, we the public have had no say in this so called 'devolution' plan yet. Whether we want a Mayor or not, it will not be our choice. The change is being done to us rather than by us. It is also a deal that can be taken away at the next change of government, or the next change of party political whim by the current one._

Nigel Slack

In all of this what we are seeing is a series of vague and faint promises and inducements given to certain people and groups so that central government can impose a whole raft of new policies on areas of the country and point the blame at others where things are problematic and cause hardship. All of this is not only sleight of hand it is typically underhand. It would be local government imposing harsh 'indentured labour' on claimants via workfare. It would be local government raising finance for government projects via new taxing of local people so that government allies can profit from what is set up. Sitting neatly behind most of this are LEP's – local business groups, unelected and hidden committees of business interests – neatly in bed with various local interests, elected or not.

In fact, entwining state structures with the need of capitalist corporations is very central to these proposals. Alongside the channelling of "public funds" through the new City Regions there is also the push to further reduce the feeble restrictions offered by existing Planning Law. The combined effect will be to ensure that huge chunks of state (UK and EU) funding continues to flow to the private housebuilding companies, those companies who make vast profits from infrastructure and redevelopment and the endless armies of consulting, accounting and "facilities management" firms.

Only bits and pieces of this have been agreed so far – all without proper scrutiny of those it will affect. The waters are being tested via consultants, vaguely advertised conferences, focus groups and academic projects. Eventually, some variant is very likely to be craftily imposed after the "consultations" with selected groups has been completed.

The shuffling of the democratic layers and structures is part of the "smoke and mirrors" to mystify the real dynamics and decision making within capitalism. Certainly this round of changes is aimed at ensuring that Central Government can share the blame for austerity with the local tiers of Councils, Mayors, City Regions et al. Equally surely the waxing and waning of various elements of the local state structures will in no way defend workers in any way, shape or form. The more such things change, the more they stay the same!

clastre

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