This budget offers nothing for the future of young people and it is infuriating. Austerity is implemented for the supposed sake of "of our children" but, after spending days poring over budget analysis I can safely say that children from ordinary homes can only look after to more austerity.
Austerity and no hope is what Tories have gifted "our children".
I didn't have vastly optimistic expectations for this budget anyway. However, the glaring absence of meaningful policy makes me even more pessimistic about our future. The only policies geared towards young people were tokenistic and ineffective
I cannot possible overexaggerate the effects of austerity on children, which this budget has only served to maintain. I am not talking about an inability to afford a home or to earn a living wage, although these are vital issues in themselves.
I am referring to the direct harm inflicted upon my generation by the Conservatives. The British Medical Journal estimated that 120,000 deaths can be directly attributed to austerity. I don't know what the breakdown is for children and adults but, even so, there must be a cumulative effect on family life.
The negative effect on children's lives is especially evident when child poverty figures are analysed. There are currently 3.7 million children living in poverty in the UK of which 1.7 million of these children are living in severe poverty. Tory supporters can tout their usual lines about the need for austerity and hard work equating to financial stability but in the UK 63% of children living in poverty come from in-work families.
It is not only the physical health of children that has suffered. Child mental health care is receiving less than 1% of the budget. Even without these statistics the death or reduction of quality of life of children is not justifiable for economic gain. The absurdity and cruelty of this situation is only magnified further by the fact that austerity has not created national economic gain.
The absence of measures to improve the situation of my generation in the budget was not the only component of the Tory's failing as the efforts made to appease young people were entirely laughable.
The extension of the age criteria for the railcard is indescribably unimportant. What kind of 30 year old would be excited about a slightly discounted railcard? The only answer is one under a Tory government. Andrew Neil's comment along the lines of 'young people won't be rushing on a train to vote Tory' sums up the situation.
The abolishment of stamp duty was another laughable effort. Many homes cost in excess of £300,000 and the move is predicted to fuel an increase in house prices. Young people are struggling to find well-paid jobs and can hardly afford to save. Home ownership is not even a distant dream
The Conservatives are utterly incapable of catering to young people's needs and this is because they spend all their time sucking up to older voters who are tax dodgers, appeasing Boris Johnson or tolerating Michael Gove. Consider the painful amount of money lost through tax dodging, Lewis Hamilton alone saved over £3 million through buying and leasing one private jet. The budget missed out on savings of over £700 million in failing to tackle tax dodging.
Think of how that money could have been spent on improving school budgets, improving children's mental health care, building homes for children in homeless situations and on youth centres.
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