Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Britain at Christmas: From Scrooge to universal credit

WHILE the mainstream media chunter and engage in magical thinking about Brexit, for many in the other Britain, far away from the concerns of Westminster — except when Jeremy Corbyn occasionally forces Tory MPs to face the impact of their own policies — it is set to be a miserable Christmas.

The workhouse has long since been abolished, but rough sleeping on the streets continues to rise. Meanwhile the impact of universal credit means that even those in work find themselves having to use foodbanks to live.

This situation has arisen as a direct result of Tory and Liberal Democrat policies since 2010, and from 2015 just the Tory Party of David Cameron and Theresa May. Yet they did not think up the ideas about how to make life miserable for the poor themselves. Rather they have been implemented at times of economic crisis since the 19th century.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
the Robin Hood statue in Nottingham
Praxis / 28 July 2026
28 July 2026

JOHN CALLOW introduces the work of Geoffrey Trease, who placed ordinary people at the centre of his historical fiction for children, creating adventurous stories to inspire the possibilities of social change

bagot
Book Review / 23 July 2026
23 July 2026

PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the lives of Charles and Mary Bagot, and the insight this biography shines on the morals of pre-Victorian society

Hamnet
Opinion / 20 January 2026
20 January 2026

JULIA THOMAS unpicks the mental processes that explain why book-to-film adaptations so often disappoint

waves
Book Review / 13 November 2025
13 November 2025

MARTIN HALL welcomes a study of Britain’s relationship with the EU that sheds light on the way euroscepticism moved from the margins to the centre