Thinktank issues wake-up call for life after Covid

The Jimmy Reid Foundation said the neo-liberal Right was gearing up to promote more austerity and privatisation to address the looming recession and towering national debt.

The Foundation, named after one of Scotland’s most famous trade unionists, said the Left must not be “caught on the hop” as the pandemic was used to justify more “rack and ruin”.

Instead, it said the poverty, inequality and the chronic underfunding laid bare by the outbreak should become a springboard to building a fairer society.

In a paper out today, the Foundation sets out ideas for helping to reconstruct the economy and forge a ‘new common sense’ as part of the wake-up call.

Its urges a continuation of the state support for workers, emergency accommodation for the homeless, and sharp falls in pollution seen during the outbreak once it is over.

The massive government interventions prompted by the coronavirus underline how the cuts and austerity of the last decade were a political choice, not inevitable, it says.

The paper was welcomed by the Scottish Greens, SNP and Labour, while the Tories said it was more of the left-wing policies that had “never worked before, and won’t in future”.

Foundation director Professor Gregor Gall, of Glasgow University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, said it was not a “shopping list” of the usual Left demands, but an attempt to advance policies “especially relevant to the impact of the pandemic”.

If the fight against coronavirus was truly a like war, the nation arguably deserved a “progressive post-war settlement for a new economy and society” akin to 1945, he said.

He said: “The Covid-19 crisis has revealed that our economy and society are far too much based on money and markets. That makes them not only very fragile but also very much lacking in fairness. The paper is a contribution to setting our economy and society on the right road to a recovery which is equitable and just.”

Enterprise Policy Professor Mike Danson, of Heriot Watt University, argued for a universal basic income, an idea also backed by Nicola Sturgeon.

He said the lockdown had exposed a welfare system “not fit for purpose”, and “strengthened arguments for radical alternatives to social protection for everyone in our society”.

He said: “A basic income for all would be an efficient way to support everyone, to stabilise the macro-economy fairly by sustaining effective demand in the economy and so directly maintaining spending, jobs and incomes in local shops, services and other enterprises.

“This would be more efficient than Westminster schemes based on lending to businesses through banks, salami-slicing the workforce with complex measures of furloughing and delayed grants, and leaving many in poverty with pressure to take risks in employment.”

Lynn Henderson, National Officer of the PCS union said the pandemic showed the vital role played by underpaid public service workers of all kinds, not just those in the NHS.

She said: “The values that guide our society must change so that the work that civil and public servants carry out is properly and fully valued. This means not just universal and permanent respect but also the wages and working conditions that accord with that.

“This is not to privilege public servants but to argue that a vast array of workers and the work they carry out must be seen in a different light – one that values the public good they do and does not reduce everything to the ‘pounds and pence’ of the ‘added value’ that they bring.”

Dr Eurig Scandrett, of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences at Queen Margaret University, said the existing cracks in the higher education system now threatened to break the sector apart, as it faced a £500m loss in income from overseas students and commercial activity, “the two sources on which Scottish universities have become increasingly dependent”.

He said: “There is an opportunity here to consider nationalising the university estate, removing the commercialisation of university property and ensuring that it is used for public benefit. This could best be done by placing the assets of universities into trust ownership.”

He also proposed “cooperative universities, in which the university is not only governed, but owned by those who work and study in it, and others who have a stake in its success”.

Gordon Martin, Regional Organiser for the RMT union, called for integrated public transport networks to help keep climate change emissions down “instead of the mess of privatisation”.

He said: “It would be disastrous, environmentally and societally if the Covid-19 crisis was to cause permanent shifts away from public transport to private vehicle usage.”

Jimmy Reid, who died aged 78 in 2010, helped lead save three shipyards from government closure as part of the ‘work-in’ at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in the early 1970s.

Elected rector of Glasgow University, his inaugural speech became world famous for its attack on monopoly capitalism: “A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings.”

Tory MSP Donald Cameron said: “There have been many lessons from this crisis, not least the importance of the NHS and the dedication of health and care workers. But radical left-wing policies have never worked for the economy before, and they won’t work in the future.

“Covid-19 is an unprecedented global catastrophe from a health and economic perspective.

“The measures taken cannot therefore be applied to everyday challenges of government.”

Shona Robison, chair of the SNP’s Social Justice Commission, said: “As we look to rebuild from the crisis we currently face, it’s clear we must not simply return to the way things were.

“It’s the right time for an open and progressive debate to help create a fairer Scotland where everyone is recognised and rewarded for the contrition they make to our society.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard added: “There can be no return to business as usual after the immediate threat of Covid-19 passes, and no return to politics as usual either. “This crisis and the fact we were not better prepared to weather it shows the need for a complete re-think on Scotland’s society, economy and public services.”

Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “This crisis has revealed a lot about how our economy fails to value key workers and doesn’t provide a secure safety net.

“The Jimmy Reid foundation is right that we must learn the lessons from this and move to an economy which works for everyone, not just those already privileged.

“This ambition to build back better will only be realised if there is a clear economic plan, and the political will to take the bold steps needed. We cannot have a repeat of what happened after the 2008 crash where the recovery came at the expense of those already struggling.”

Campaigners from 80 organisations yesterday urged Ms Sturgeon to draw up a “radical response to the double crises” of climate change and Covid for a “truly just and green recovery”.

In a letter to Ms Sturgeon, the groups including Friends of the Earth Scotland, faith organisations, Oxfam Scotland and trades unions, said a return “to business as usual” is “both unrealistic and undesirable”.

They told the First Minister: “Decisions made in times of crisis have long-lasting consequences. After the 2008 financial crisis, inequality grew and climate emissions spiralled.

“We want to see this moment seized for the common good, not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

The Poverty Alliance, Children in Scotland, Christian Aid Scotland and Extinction Rebellion Scotland are also among the organisations making the plea.

They argue existing inequalities across society are being “exacerbated” by the pandemic and climate change, leaving the poorest to suffer the most.

But they insist: “The recovery from coronavirus is a rare chance to markedly accelerate the repurposing of government away from the prioritisation of economic growth and towards goals of wellbeing and sustainability, ending inequality and environmental destruction. This is a time for system change.”

They want to see expanded public ownership of public services and a redistribution of wealth, which they say must “ensure all public workers receive at least the real living wage”.

New funds should be set up to “transform our society and economy to meet Scotland’s fair share of climate emissions cuts and greatly enhance biodiversity”, they argue, also calling for the government to “create and protect jobs in sustainable travel, renewable heat, affordable local food and energy efficiency”.

The Scottish Government is also being urged to use the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow - which have been postponed a year to November 2021 - to “push for robust implementation of the Paris deal” on global emissions reductions.

Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “As we plan our economic recovery, we must build back better. We must design a more just taxation system, provide affordable and accessible public services, build a labour market that works for everyone, and ensure that everyone has an income that meets their needs.”

Lilian Macer, convener of the Unison Scotland union, said: “Public services and the workers in them have demonstrated their value during this crisis. Health and care workers, cleaners and domestics, shop workers, posties and transport workers. All have stepped up to the plate. All are low paid.

“In the recovery phase we must ensure that the services they provide are protected for the future and that they are rewarded better for the jobs they do all of the time, and not just in a crisis. The future must provide justice for these workers”

Caroline Rance of Friends of the Earth Scotland added: “As we recover from coronavirus, we have a chance to transform our society and economy in a way that puts people and the planet first.

“The Scottish Government’s recovery plan must lay the foundations for a fairer, greener future.”