AFTER eight years of a Tory government that has seen the explosion of foodbanks, the rise of zero-hours contracts, stagnant wages, in-work poverty and the erosion of living standards for the poorest in society, Theresa May has finally declared we need an economy that works for all.

It would be too easy to fisk her piece in the Observer.

“I want the British people to have the very best. A first-class health service, which is there for all of us in our time of need.”

You really should have sacked Jeremy Hunt then, shouldn’t you?
“Brilliant schools that give every child the very best start in life.”

That’ll be why the government has cut £2.8 billion from schools, leaving head teachers warning that budgets are at “breaking point.”

“Twenty-first century infrastructure in every community, which serves the needs of our economy.”

Look, we all know private monopolies over rail and energy are ripping us off for a shoddy service. Just renationalise them already.

Ever in tune with the beat of the British public’s hearts, May uses her limp platitudes to make a limper defence of public-private partnerships at a time when they have never been more disgraced in the wake of Carillion’s collapse, while paying the obligatory lip service to the state’s responsibility to “rebalance the system in favour of ordinary working people.”

State intervention to level the playing field of a free market that has seen an ever-greater slice of the pie gobbled up by a tiny minority at the top and squeezed living standards for everyone else is essential. 

The trouble is, the government is going about it all wrong, subsidising some of the biggest corporations on the planet to pay wages that lock people into poverty.

The minimum wage for workers over 25 is £7.50, but despite former chancellor George Osborne’s bit of spin in calling it a “national living wage,” the genuine living wage is much higher — £8.75 and £10.20 in London. 

As such, companies are not legally required to pay their workers nearly enough to live on. So the government steps in to top up the incomes of five million people through working tax credits. 

This is the biggest public-private partnership swindle going.

Working tax credits are an essential lifeline to those on the breadline, but the net effect is that the government is funnelling billions into private companies and employers who refuse to pay their workers enough to have a dignified standard of living. 

And by doing so, it is removing any pressure on employers to pay their workers a fair wage. 

The genuine living wage has to be made the minimum wage. Many companies already pay more. Some understandably struggle to do so. Of course the boutique bookshops being priced off the high street will need support. And the government should use the tax system to support small businesses instead of the massive annual corporate tax giveaway it is giving to multinationals in the hope they will use Britain as a tax haven. 

But the government should not be having to top up the wage packets of multinational giants when their CEOs populate the world’s rich lists. 

That is not levelling the playing field. It is not making the economy work for all. It’s letting your friends get away with it — taking them out for a slap-up meal only to watch them smash up the restaurant, then picking up the tab.

Governments that dress up neoliberalism in the rags of austerity to claim fiscal prudence have to be honest that the real scandal is not a state that provides for those who are unable to work but a state forced to top up the wages of those who are in work because the government lacks the courage to compel companies to pay properly.

This is one public-private partnership scandal that has to end now.

Salman Shaheen is chair of Isleworth and Brentford Labour Party, a 2018 election candidate, and a journalist.