Cameron & Osborne's long term plan for austerity is now deep into territory even Conservatives are finding hard to accept

David Cameron's long term austerity plan is starting to worry Conservatives, but he and ministers seem to be blissfully unaware of the human impact of cuts upon even working families. Photograph: Prime Minister David Cameron - official photograph by Number 10 (License) (Cropped)

With their defeat in the Lords on Tax Credit cuts, the Conservatives seem to be in a bit of a crisis (Morris & Grice, 2015). While Chancellor George Osborne has assured anyone who will listen that he has found his next round of cuts (BBC, 2015), a massive 30% from departmental budgets to be announced at the spending review, he has faced opposition from his own party.

Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major called for a rethink of the government's approach in light of rising inequality and the impact of policies upon the poorest (Quinn, 2015). There has even been opposition from the Conservative controlled work and pensions select committee.

The members of the select committee argued that cuts are at their limit and urged the Chancellor to take a pause and rethink his priorities (Wintour, 2015). Combined with the Conservative MPs who spoke out against Tax Credit cuts and those that would not back a slackening of Sunday trading laws (Dathan, 2015; Lansdale, 2015) - which led to that proposal being withdrawn (BBC, 2015{2}) - the government is under growing pressure to back down and change direction.

Yet it seems unlikely that, in the long run, David Cameron's Ministry will deviate from its general course. The broadest evidence for that is the Prime Minister's own bafflingly ill-informed letter to Ian Hudspeth, the leader of his native Oxfordshire county council, criticising cuts to services (Monbiot, 2015; Oliver, 2015).

Cameron's apparent ignorance of the depth of impact from his own economic policy is yet another example of the Conservative failure, or refusal, to address the human cost of their policies (Morse, 2015; Stewart & Elliott, 2015). According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the burden of cuts has been falling almost squarely upon those least able to bear it (Hastings et al, 2015).

Essential services like social care are being stretched thin and, as Cameron himself notes, staples of British civil society like libraries and museums have already had their funding cut (The Independent, 2015). And yet, the most well off have been sheltered.

Opposing and mitigating the deeply negative impact of the cuts on citizens requires two things. First, the progressives on the opposition benches have to unite behind broad, common positions. And so, second, moderate Conservatives willing to rebel against government policy can move decisively to check negative plans. It has been seen before over the seven months of this government: only a broad Parliamentary effort can successfully defeat the government's, albeit thin, majority.

As John Major admitted, inequality isn't about skivers or scroungers. It's about those with opportunities and those without them - and that second category is at risk of being flooded with the 'working families' Conservatives have tried to make a staple of their support.

The key for progressives is to make sure concerned Conservatives see how much hurt austerity can and will bring down upon the very people they depend upon for votes in their constituencies - to show them just how toxic it can be to have a lack of compassion and consideration.

References

Nigel Morris & Andrew Grice's 'Tax credits: House of Lords votes to delay cuts by three years'; in The Independent; 27 October 2015.

'Spending review: George Osborne 'secures deals' on 30% cuts'; on the BBC; 9 November 2015.

Ben Quinn's '"Shocking" inequality levels in Britain must be addressed, says John Major'; in The Guardian; 11 November 2015.

Patrick Wintour's 'George Osborne sees fresh blow over planned tax credit cuts changes'; in The Guardian; 11 November 2015.

Matt Dathan's 'Heidi Allen: Tory MP uses maiden speech to plead with George Osborne to soften impact of tax credit cuts: "Something must give"'; in The Independent; 20 October 2015.

James Landale's 'Sunday trading law proposals "facing defeat"'; on the BBC; 9 November 2015.

'Sunday trading law proposals put "on hold"'; on the BBC; 10 November 2015{2}.

George Monbiot's 'David Cameron hasn’t the faintest idea how deep his cuts go. This letter proves it'; in The Guardian; 11 November 2015.

Matt Oliver's 'Exclusive: David Cameron clashes with council over cuts to frontline services'; in the Oxford Mail; 11 November 2015.

Amyas Morse's 'Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014'; in his capacity as Comptroller and Auditor General; for the National Audit Office; 11 November 2014.

Heather Stewart & Larry Elliott's 'Budget 2015: tax credit claimants will be up to £1,000 a year worse off, says IFS'; in The Guardian; 9 July 2015.

Annette Hastings, Nick Bailey, Glen Bramley, Maria Gannon & David Watkins' 'The cost of the cuts: the impact on local government and poorer communities'; from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; 10 March 2015.

'Tories protected richer pensioners at the expense of those in need of social care - a crisis awaits'; in The Independent; 10 November 2015.