LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for a return to the social security ‘safety net’ and slammed the ‘totally shocking’ levels of poverty seen in this country.
Speaking on a visit to the city last Thursday (February 7), Mr Corbyn visited the Worcester Housing and Benefit Advice Centre in the Hopmarket, a charity offering advice and support to people struggling with rent arrears, debt and problems with benefits, to highlight rising levels of insecurity and poverty.
The social justice campaigner delivered a resounding snub to the Conservative’s Universal Credit benefit reforms and said, if elected, a Labour government would immediately tackle areas of the policy.
“Immediately we would end the five week wait to go onto universal credit, immediately we would end the capability for work tests and replace them with a medical assessment,” he said.
“We would deliver a comprehensive improvement in social security which returns to the principle of the safety net from destitution. I just think having been in Parliament all these years the turning point was the 1980s Thatcher Social Security Act which enabled people to fall through that net.
“The levels of poverty, in work poverty and child poverty in this country are totally shocking so a number of things have to happen.
“We need a benefit system that works but also bear in mind many people that access the benefit system are in work themselves, wages are too low that’s why our pledge of a living wage of £10 per hour by 2020 will mean a substantial rise for a large number of people,” he added.
Following his meeting with staff and volunteers, Mr Corbyn travelled to the Guildhall to rally party members and offer his support to the city’s prospective parliamentary candidate Lynn Denham.
“It’s a wonderful city and as someone who grew up in Shropshire I always viewed Worcester as an amazing place to come and visit, its wonderful cricket ground and the river of course,” he said.
“It’s important for us as a party, important for me to be here and support our wonderful candidate in Lynn Denham.
During a near 40 minute speech, Mr Corbyn branded the Conservative’s as the ‘nasty party’ and vowed to act the opposite way if elected and once again pledged to nationalise the Royal Mail, rail network and water companies.
Mr Corbyn is said to have predicted the party would poll 37 per cent in the snap General Election in 2017, despite worries from party chiefs and varying opinion polls before the vote.
When asked to repeat his prediction skills and answer whether a Jeremy Corbyn premiership would come first or a Premier League title for his Arsenal team, Mr Corbyn said: “There’ll be a close alignment!”
Visit www.worcesterobserver.co.uk/podcasts to listen to a special podcast of Mr Corbyn’s visit.
