THE Reform UK party website declares: “Wages are stagnant, energy bills are some of the highest in Europe and both Labour and the Conservatives have broken promise after promise for the last 30 years. We are ruled by an out of touch political class who have turned their backs on our country.”

The problem with these claims? They’re not wrong.

Despite Labour’s rightward turn under Sir Keir Starmer, millions still grasped at the thinnest glimmer of hope for “real change” at the 2024 general election.

After over a decade of Tory cuts to public services, the subsequent deepening inequality and the stinking corruption so shockingly highlighted during the pandemic, the bar could not have been lower.

On a wave of promises to close tax loopholes for the rich and create wealth for working people, Labour’s overwhelming majority gave them the power to fulfil their manifesto commitments.

Fast forward only nine months and instead of delivering electoral promises, the Labour Party has repeatedly betrayed those who voted for them.

The starkest betrayal by far is the announcement of £5 billion in welfare cuts. Analysis of these proposals show that 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, will as a consequence be pushed in to poverty.

If these reforms go ahead, millions will see their personal independence payments (PIP) slashed. This disgraceful attack will affect people living with disabilities and their support networks.

Nurses, teachers, cleaners, posties, train drivers and civil servants are among the millions who will be affected and pushed further into poverty by this political decision.

This announcement comes on the back of not only 14 years of austerity but a cost-of-living crisis that saw food prices rise 20 per cent in one year and energy prices rise 60 per cent over the last four years while wages have continued to stagnate.

At the same time, energy companies have made hundreds of billions in profits and in 2023, the UK’s 171 billionaires had as much wealth as 40 per cent of the entire population.

Instead of properly taxing corporations and wealth, this Labour government has demonstrated where its loyalties lie. Its decisions so far illustrate a dangerously short-sighted vision; populist support for far-right parties mirrors deepening inequality.

For all the handwringing among the chattering classes about the threat of Reform, they appear to be handing them victories.

When people find themselves working longer and harder for less and when social safety nets disintegrate, they lose faith in the Establishment, and far-right parties like Reform are the beneficiaries at the ballot box.

Scotland is no exception. Despite devolution previously providing a buffer against the worst excesses of austerity, Cabinet Secretary for Finance Shona Robison has confirmed that there will be cuts to the block grant from 2026.

This will have an impact on the money received from Westminster for devolved benefits such as adult disability payment, the Scottish equivalent of PIP.

If this bill is passed by the UK Parliament, the Scottish government will have a choice to make. This choice will be to either pass on the cuts from Westminster; a move that would no doubt increase support for Reform, or John Swinney’s government can make a bold decision to initiate progressive tax reform.  

In 2023, the STUC published a report showing that, the Scottish Parliament, could raise an additional £3.7 billion in progressive tax revenue, £2.6bn of which would be funded through a wealth tax and long-awaited overhaul of council tax.

Progressive changes to the tax model in Scotland, all possible under current powers, would certainly be more effective against the threat of Reform than anything the Scottish government has done so far.

Our union will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the wider movement to campaign against cuts to the social safety net, demand wages that actually pay the bills and be on the front line of tackling the far right.

This Labour government proves, once again, that real class power doesn’t come from politicians, it comes from a politically strong and industrially organised trade union movement, from the shop floor to our leadership.

Ruby Alden Gibson is PCS national officer for Scotland.