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COMMENTS: Simon Woolley and Robert Berkeley

TWO LEADING thinkers on issues affecting the UK’s African and Caribbean community have expressed disapproval of the Government’s latest fiscal budget.

Chancellor George Osborne opened his announcement insisting that the Government’s economic plan to reduce Britain’s debt was on track.

However, Simon Woolley, director of lobby group Operation Black Vote (OBV) and Rob Berkeley, director of the race think tank Runnymede Trust, agreed it is not working for black Britons.

Woolley told The Voice: “The economic climate for black people is dire in the most extreme.

“Unemployment is high, banks are not lending to businesses and poverty is hitting the black British community very hard.

“This is the reality we live in.”

The personal allowance will be increased in 2014/15, meaning those earning up to £10,000 per year will not pay a single penny in income tax. Together with the scrapping of a proposed 3p per litre fuel duty, it was among the most eye-catching of the Government giveaways.

CHANGES

Despite these changes which will help low-earners and drivers, Berkeley believes the Government still has a long way to go to sufficiently help the black community.

Berkeley said: “The major conclusion to be drawn from the budget is a longer period of austerity and cuts.

“These cuts will hit the poorest members of society and that includes a disproportionate number of black people.

“The other aspects [of the budget] are neutral. The motto ‘setting up desk chairs on the Titanic’ comes to mind.”

With the black population expanding rapidly, by more than 40 per cent since 2001, according to ONS, rising childcare costs are putting families under further pressure.

The Government will allow parents with children on universal credit –a means-tested benefit for low-income families – to receive tax-free childcare vouchers worth up to £1,200 per child.

“The childcare subsidy is a good addition. However, it’s almost as if the Government will take from one hand and just give from the other. Current policies are merely skirting around the edges,” Woolley said.
In a similar vein, Berkeley added: “The child care subsidy is good but it just doesn’t go far enough. Black parents, especially single mothers or fathers, still need a lot more help with childcare costs.”

One of the issues arising from the budget was the consideration given to the black community.

Woolley said: “It’s an underwhelming budget for black people in general, as it barely recognises our plight.

“The Government lacks a coherent plan to move our communities in to a brighter future.”

Black people form 3.3 per cent of the nation’s population, and the ‘black pound’ has an estimated collective spending power of up to £300 billion.

“Although, I wouldn’t expect there to be recognition of the black community specifically in a budget announcement, but I do look at how the changes to the social classes which black people are prominent in,” Berkeley explained, referring to the disproportionate numbers of black people on the lower end of the socio-economic scale.

CUTS

“Just look at the cuts in benefits still yet to be introduced,” he continued. “From disability to housing welfare, the cuts will be hitting many black people.”

In the 2012 budget, a range of working-age benefits, including jobseeker’s allowance, increased by one per cent.

However, with inflation currently floating around 2.8 per cent, for claimants it is fundamentally a cut.

Some families may see changes to their housing benefit. Before April 1, claimants received between £50 and £100 a week. Now, if they are deemed by their local authorities to have too much living space, payment will be reduced under the ‘bedroom tax’.

IN CHARGE: Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne

On the morning of the Chancellor’s announcement, official figures showed unemployment was to rise to 2.52 million – representing 7.8 per cent of the population.

Additionally, more than half of black men and women, aged between 16 and 25 are without a job.

Compared to the United States, a research paper presented at the British Sociological Association annual conference in 2012 found that unemployment was 19 percentage points higher among black Britons than African Americans.

University of Manchester Professor Yaojun Li, who conducted the study, concluded from it that “if you are black you are more likely to be without work in the UK.”

Berkeley said: “It is easily forgotten that we have the most highly educated and qualified generation of young black people in history in this country.

“Yet they still face many barriers to enter prosperous careers and the Government needs to work harder to break these down.”

Since the coalition Government between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties was formed in 2010, it has made cutting the country’s deficit a number one priority.

Both Woolley and Berkeley have advised a different tactic, similar to US President’s Barack Obama’s cash injection into the American economy.

“The Government is looking to encourage a private sector response, where they create wealth which will trickle down the system to lower-earners,” Berkeley stated.

“Personally, I would implement the opposite. I would create a stimulus plan and instruments to monitor the effectiveness, by making sure money is spread more equally.

Woolley added: “We need to convene with the bankers and work on releasing investment into more businesses and enterprises owned by black people – greater wealth creation is the key.

“Also, I would gather the FTSE 100 in a summit to discuss and debate how to best target and tap into the shackled deluge of talent in our community.”