YP Comment: Our carers must be championed. A test of PM's compassion agenda

It points to more ruthless bosses – both in the public and private sector – still exploiting loopholes which must not be overlooked as Theresa May used hailed the record number of people now in work.

The Tory leader has set out a compelling vision for compassionate Conservatism and she now needs to start putting this mantra into action – courier firm Hermes is now being investigated for possible breaches of the minimum wage, while 17 care home workers in London instigated legal action against Haringey Council and care companies over claims that the pay of live-in carers did not correlate with the amount of time they spent on call.

This is the backdrop to a study by the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust which revealed that the availability of care for the elderly is the subject of a postcode lottery – and that many residential homes can no longer make ends as a direct result of council cuts.

Launching a major policy review would not be an admission of failure on the Government’s part – it would, in fact, be an acceptance that it has a moral duty to not only ensure that the elderly are treated with respect, but that carers are also treated fairly. No value can be attached to their work, and value to society, because it is, frankly, priceless – a point forgotten by successive governments who have taken this sector for granted for too long. This must change – and Mrs May has an opportunity to ensure that carers are treated as champions rather than commodities. If this happens, and the current exploitation ends, there will be no excuse for private sector bosses not doing likewise for their own staff.

Class warfare

IF THERESA May had sought the counsel of Ripon Grammar School headmaster Martin Pearman before Prime Minister’s Questions – he has written an enlightend piece on the opposite page – she might have been in a better position to answer some of Jeremy Corbyn’s more direct questions about this policy and how pupils from all walks of life might benefit from education policy going back in time.

Despite this, the PM still managed to tease out Mr Corbyn’s rank hypocrisy by pointing out that both she, and the Leader of the Opposition, were beneficiaries of a grammar school education and that poorer children were being deprived of opportunities because their parents cannot afford to buy, 
or rent, a property in the catchment area of the best performing comprehensives.

As Mrs May stressed, there is still a chronic shortage of places in the top-performing schools and she does, at the very least, accept the need to improve social mobility unlike Labour which still has a front 
bench bereft of credibility 
or broad appeal.

Mr Corbyn concluded his last question before the result of the Labour leadership contest is known by saying “Can’t we do better than this?”. Echoes of his predecessor Ed Miliband’s ‘we are better than this’ mantra, this clumsy choice of words provided more ammunition for the Opposition leader’s many critics on the Commons backbenches who believe that his ideological class warfare is the reason for their party’s desperate predicament.

Taken for a ride...

THANKS in no small part to Channel 4’s thought-provoking coverage, the Rio Paralympics continue – like the brilliant London Games four years previously – to showcase the determination of disabled competitors and their desire to be treated as equals. How dispiriting, therefore, that there are still some ignorant members of society – some might refer to these individuals as dinosaurs – who remain totally insensitive to the specific needs, and human rights, of wheelchair users as they go about their daily business.

It is illustrated by the plight of cerebral palsy sufferer Nathan Popple after the 18-year-old, from Leeds, was quoted £108 to travel just 5.6 miles in a private hire car. In comparison, an able-bodied person would have been charged £10.

As taxi companies and private hire operators acknowledge the legitimacy of the teenager’s grievance, it’s important that such issues are investigated – and licences revoked if it is proven that disabled passengers have been discriminated against. It’s a simple way of honouring the gold medal example being set by Team GB in Brazil.