Our Croydon North Manifesto will be out soon. We can say now, though, that one of the manifesto's key statements is about Clean Government.
If elected, our candidate, Glen, will not countenance "spin", or the misleading presentation of statistics and other information. TUSC stands for truthfulness in politics.
Even the pro-big business Economist newspaper has baulked at the most recent government scam.
In order to help press home the idea that too much tax revenue is wasted, it his sending to all homes a supposed breakdown of how taxes are spent. It purports to show that fully 25% of it is (by implication) "wasted" on welfare.
Needless to say, that doesn't seem to be quite right. Around 40% of what they have described as "welfare" (according to the Economist) does not in fact go to working-age people. Some of it is spending on children, pensioners and long-term care for the elderly.
So the total for what most people might call welfare falls to around 13% of the total tax spend. Not quite so big a number.
We are in favour of cutting welfare too - corporate welfare! - subsidies, tax-breaks, grants. Around £85 billion a year!
But in any event, if the government really wanted to eliminate the need for welfare, they need do only one thing - ENSURE PEOPLE ARE PAID A DECENT WAGE! (Don't hold your breath).
And can we assume a "New Labour" government would tell the truth? You know, like they did in the lead up to the Iraq war...
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