Easter Recess: Time to take stock and give thought to rising uncertainty

Uncertainty is the new reality. With it comes rising anxiety and the prioritising of gain over wellbeing.

It's the Parliamentary Easter Recess and that means a chance to take a breath, and take stock of the present political situation. In short, uncertainty is fast becoming the new definition of life in Britain.

The formal process of Brexit has begun with the triggering of Article 50, which means the scramble to define the new UK-EU trade relationship has begun. The bill repealing EU laws, and replacing them with UK equivalents, has been announced in a white paper. And, another round of welfare cuts are set to begin.

Each of these, in their own way, is contributing to the rising sense of precarity. Each is serving to shape everyday life, and the grander framework it functions within, around the idea of uncertainty - and it is a deliberate ideological project.

Take for example the most pressing of these, the welfare cuts. Up until now, welfare cuts have been focussed on those at the very bottom, who have little voice and who the right-wing press demands be afforded little sympathy.

However, these latest cuts are going to thrust deep into the soft belly of the middle class. Restrictions to child benefit, to bereavement benefits, and to working age benefits will have real impacts even on people who have so far managed to skirt the impact of austerity (Butler & Asthana, 2017).

From those with a disability to young people, there is something in these changes that is, directly or indirectly, going to affect everyone (Cowburn, 2017). The safety net is being disassembled and the Conservatives are justifying it as a way to 'encourage' people 'back to work'.

The white paper for the so called 'Great Repeal Bill' - a name of unlimited pomposity - has only added fuel to the fire. Human rights groups, like Liberty, have already expressed deep concern at tremendous gaps it found in the paper (Liberty, 2017).

A particular controversy lies with the bill granting the government 'secondary legislation' powers - in theory, the executive power to implement and administer what is required by the primary legislation - over matters being transferred from EU supervision (Owen, 2017).

Critics are warning that this provision risks handing the government the ability to sidestep Parliament in altering legislation (Fowles, 2017). At the least, it will allow the government to shape and direct aspects of the law without proper oversight - a power of huge potential.

Those concerns will be hard to assuage, because the final bill will be so long and dense - "one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK" (BBC, 2017). It could take years of Parliamentary time to scrutinise and this government has shown itself to be neither that patient nor transparent.

Conservatism, whatever Theresa May wants to preach about the return of Unionism, has long since given itself over wholly to an aggressive form of laissez-faire capitalism - and the sharpest lesson of that ideology is the belief that growth is achieved by rewarding energy and dynamism and punishing the 'idle' (George & Wilding, 1994).

In other words, to promote limited precarious rewards, directly at the expense of assurance. Through coercive uncertainty, to build profit on the back of anxiety - mistaking gain and accumulation for progress.

And understanding that should make any observer take a pause, consider and ask: what kind of trade deals the Conservatives are willing to drop the EU and the single market in order to negotiate?

The Conservative long term plan is now nearly fully realised. Uncertainty is the new reality. For an increasing number of people that means the life precarious, filled with anxiety about tomorrow, so some few other can exploit them.

References

Patrick Butler & Anushka Asthana's 'Welfare shakeup 'will push a quarter of a million children into poverty' - Analysis for the Guardian finds changes due on 6 April will also wipe thousands off payments for bereaved families'; in The Guardian; 2 April 2017.

Ashley Cowburn's 'Spending freeze to cut extra £4bn from benefits as raft of new benefit cuts kick in: The figures come as Theresa May puts into force a raft of new austerity measures this week, hitting thousands of the most disadvantaged people across the country, including parents, widows, the disabled and young people'; in The Independent; 3 April 2017.

'The Guardian view on bereavement benefit cuts: cruel, stingy, wrong: Theresa May sacked George Osborne and promised to do everything differently. It doesn’t look like it from here'; Editorial, in The Guardian; 2 April 2017.

'“Gaping holes where our rights should be”: Liberty’s analysis of the Great Repeal Bill white paper'; from Liberty; 30 March 2017.

Joe Owen's 'What did we learn from the Great Repeal Bill White Paper?'; from the Institute for Government; 30 March 2017.

Sam Fowles' 'The great repeal bill will give the Tories a free hand. And we can only watch: These ‘Henry VIII’ powers are meant to smooth Britain’s exit from the EU. But they also give the government alarming scope to make wider legislative changes'; in The Guardian; 1 April 2017.

'Reality Check: Does the Great Repeal Bill repeal EU laws?'; on the BBC; 30 March 2017.