BRITAIN’S conservative coalition government sees its key role as doing the City of London’s bidding, so no-one should be surprised that Bank of England governor Mark Carney echoes its line.

He took advantage of a TUC platform to praise workers and their unions for “sharing the burden” by allegedly agreeing to accept cuts in hours and pay to remain in work and keep British industry competitive.

Did he not bother to read anything about Britain while he was governor of the Bank of Canada?

Was there no coverage there of mass demonstrations and strike action in Britain against the single-minded determination of the government, assisted by a compliant “opposition,” to transform a private banking crisis into one of supposedly excessive spending by the public sector?

Neither working people nor their trade union representatives fell for the patronising “all in it together” crap peddled by Cameron, Osborne and their Liberal Democrat cronies.

Sacrifices were not willingly accepted. They were imposed by a ruthless government intent on refinancing the banking sector by robbing the working class.

Nor is the suffering over for workers because, while Carney recognises that the real value of wages has fallen by a tenth — GMB calculates 13.8 per cent — since the economic downturn sparked by the banking crisis, they are set to be hit by higher borrowing costs in the coming months.

For all the honeyed words about Britain’s workers deserving a pay rise for supposed devotion to their masters, no-one should hold their breath expecting grateful bosses to begin showering staff with money.

Carney himself suggests that higher wages can only follow raised productivity as the result of increased capital investment, all the while companies sit on huge cash piles.

Workers are capable of reading between the lines of diplomatic double-talk to see the reality of the Bank of England governor, a graduate of Goldman Sachs — the company that made banker synonymous with crook — patting them on their heads while preparing for business as normal.

Interest rates will rise. Low-paid workers will be further priced out of home ownership and City firms will confect new means of avoiding taxation for the wealthy and corporate elite. 

Happy days for some, but not the millions who have borne the brunt of the austerity agenda.

TTIP of the iceberg 

Unite leader Len McCluskey’s letter to MEPs urging opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), highlights the fact that threats to our living standards and public services do not emanate solely from Westminster.

European Union and global trade agreements prioritising corporate profit over popular sovereignty pose supranational dangers.

Last month’s imposition of a £224 million arbitration award against the government for terminating an electronic control contract with US firm Raytheon on grounds of poor delivery is an example of things to come.

TTIP is being negotiated with the US behind closed doors by Ignacio Garcia Bercero on behalf of EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht and it’s not looking good.

The intention of these shadowy talks for EU-US free trade is to set a level playing field for health, food and environmental standards, with Washington intent on a race to the bottom.

Public services, and especially our NHS, are under direct threat from this secretive conclave.

TTIP is an international projection of pro-capitalist politicians’ deregulation and privatisation obsessions that will cost at least a million jobs. 

Its agenda must be exposed more widely and strongly opposed.