The Tories must be getting more and more scared of Ukip as the election approaches, because their language and behaviour is becoming increasingly absurd.

Cameron went to Hove in East Sussex to describe his welfare reform strategy. This provides an interesting contrast with Tory Party behaviour before the 2010 election, when Iain Duncan Smith went to Easter House in Glasgow to complain about poverty and the need for the welfare system that improved the life chances of the poorest.

It did not take him long in office to slash welfare benefits, activate the crudest return to work tests — particularly for those with disabilities — and bring in a welfare cap, most of which is eaten up by private-sector rents.

He also introduced the bedroom tax, and seems deeply unconcerned about the terrifying increase in rough sleepers and homelessness all over Britain.

Cameron has concluded that the way to win the next election is by further undermining the principles of a welfare state that protects people from destitution and absolute poverty, and claiming instead that “work must always be rewarded.” He then goes on to propose a system of ensuring that unemployed youngsters are forced to work unpaid.

If they win the election, the Tories plan to lower the benefit cap by £3,000 a year, introduce the very controversial universal credit system and abolish jobseeker’s allowance for people under 21, while Dame Carol Black will review ways to refuse assistance to those suffering with long-term health problems.

The reality of the Tory record has been to drive hundreds of thousands out of secure jobs in the public sector and replace them with insecure, often zero-hours contracts in the private sector, and real wages have gone down by an average of at least £30 a week since Cameron became Prime Minister.

The campaigning by many anti-austerity and disability groups has begun to change the debate, despite the universal stigmatising of those in receipt of state benefits by much of the media. Who can forget the disgusting Benefits Street programme produced by Channel 4?

Labour front-benchers have produced a pre-manifesto policy on a compulsory jobs guarantee by taxing bank bonuses, and restricting pensions tax relief on those earning over £150,000 to guarantee all those over 25 a job.

It’s been pointed out that long-term youth unemployment costs £350 million a year, and that Labour would introduce a jobs guarantee which would save a great deal of money as well as bringing in a tax income from those actually in work.

Ed Miliband has also promoted the development of another 80,000 high-quality apprenticeships every year, and he’s right to draw attention to the low level of industrial training in Britain compared with Germany.

Consequently, many young people lose out on the ability to develop the skills they need.

However, behind the debate on the welfare state lies a much bigger question of the behaviour of the financial services, and what an incoming government is prepared to do about it.

Faced with the banking crisis of 2008, then prime minister Gordon Brown proposed an enormous bank bailout and public ownership in whole or part of most of the banks. Welcome as the latter part of the proposal was, it was never presented as public control of the banking system, but merely a stop gap to return the banks to the private sector.

President Barack Obama did much the same in the US with General Motors passing through public ownership in order to re-establish itself before being handed back to the private sector in a profitable state.

The Tories are already trying to hand various financial institutions and banks back to the private sector, starting with Northern Rock, which has gone to Virgin Money.

The news of HSBC and its mammoth tax evasion operation may have changed the public debate. £22 billion has been squirrelled away to a Swiss branch of HSBC in order to avoid British rates of taxation. Tory peer Lord Fink seems to believe that everyone does tax evasion and it’s perfectly OK, and he sees no reason to apologise for anything. His self-satisfied unconcern may disappear as even HSBC’s Swiss operation is now being investigated by the police for money-laundering accusations.

As the abysmal behaviour of private-sector banks such as HSBC and the very wealthy in our society is laid bare, it’s interesting to see the comparison with what is happening in Greece.

The election produced a parliament that is intent on ending the desperation of austerity, cuts and privatisation of its economy. The public debate between German Chancellor Engela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipris is fascinating. Merkel is suddenly confronted with a government that isn’t simply going to listen to yet another round of instructions from the European Central Bank and go back to Athens following its orders.

The political message across Europe is obvious. The left parties are seen to stand up against the economic orthodoxy which states that everyone must suffer except for the richest in society. There is indeed an alternative.

Whether or not the European Central Bank and European institutions are capable of delivering an alternative economic strategy is an interesting question. Millions around Europe are watching very closely, and hoping that solidarity with Greece will be a real game-changer across the whole continent, as solidarity for social justice gets stronger.

The message is of course very strong for the trade unions and Labour in Britain. There is an alternative to austerity.

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North.